What is a bad guy?
It’s important to note that in almost all instances, villains in literature are proactive and
heroes are reactive. For example, look at how Batman doesn’t act until Joker has already
made his move. This is because villains must be portrayed as the aggressors to function
correctly in any given narrative. What must be remembered is that the act of aggression is
only seen as such by the victims. The shark from Jaws didn’t really do anything wrong in
terms of natural behaviour, but as it was eating humans, it was the perceived aggressor.
I personally prefer to build a game starting with the villain, due to how they are technically
the driving force of a campaign. If they didn’t exist, the players would have no need to take
up arms.
The Types of Villains
Villains can generally be grouped into the following categories:
● The Beast
● The Machine
● The Fanatic
● The Embodiment of Evil
● The Mastermind
● The Bully
● The Henchman
● The Obsessive
● The Anti-Villain
Each type of villain has its pros and cons, and different ways to function in literature, and
many can overlap with each other as you will see traits of one category in another.
The Beast
The Beast is one of the most simple, yet effective, villain archetypes to use well. They’re
traditionally an animal that are “overstepping their boundaries” and infringing on human life
and settlements.
The Beast has no motivation other than survival. It needs to eat, sleep, breed, and breathe
just like any other species in existence currently. If you want to be realistic about it, the Beast
would flee if it felt its life was in danger most of the time. They want to survive as much as
you do. They aren’t vindictive, and they won’t seek revenge. If you would desire to use The
Beast in your game, ensure that you emphasise that they are just a creature doing its own
thing. Acts of aggression are territorial, predatory, or in defence. The Beast cannot be
reasoned with. Try convincing a bear not to eat you, it won’t work.
Examples from fiction include:
● Bruce from Jaws
● The Xenomorph from Alien
● Parasites from Parasyte: The Maxim
● Dinosaurs from Jurassic Park
The Machine
The Machine is very similar to The Beast. They’re simple, effective, cannot be reasoned
with, and very easy to use in TTRPGs. However there are some differences between them.
The Machine follows orders exclusively. It has no consciousness of its own.. It does not
relent, and has no sense of self-preservation. They are generally at the behest of a larger
intelligence or hive mind that overrides their instincts. This is what makes them so
dangerous, as you could remove limbs and it would still keep attacking and fighting,
remaining fearless as they have only their orders.
If you desire to use the Machine in your game, ensure that they’re entirely objective in their
nature. “Seeking Player. See Player. Eliminate Player.”
Examples from fiction include:
● Ultron from Avengers
● The Cybermen from Doctor Who
● Nazi Zombies from Call of Duty
● The T-1000 from Terminator
The Fanatic
The Fanatic is also sometimes referred to as “The Holy Warrior”. These villains have a cause
or belief and will stop at nothing to achieve that. Think “the ends justify the means” and you’ll
be on the right track. They see themself as almost a god-like figure and the one to bring
about a “necessary” change in the world. They will achieve their goal regardless of the
bloodshed or destruction in their wake.
These villains are quite tricky, as they are most effective when their cause can be
understood and empathised with. Someone wanting to enslave the world in a show of
dominance isn’t always going to cut it. There needs to be a purpose and drive.
If you desire to use the Fanatic in your game, first consider their cause. The more
sympathetic and believable, the better. Maybe you could even convince your players that
they are right.
Examples from fiction include:
● Thanos from Avengers
● Viego from League of Legends
● Stain from My Hero Academia
● Pain from Naruto Shippuden
The Embodiment of Evil
The Embodiment of Evil (henceforth referred to as EoE) is the most common villain found in
TTRPGs. They generally have little backstory, character development, and their motivations
aren’t profound. Though giving them a backstory can be great and character affirming. They
run the gamut from cold and calculating, to moustache-twirling and cackling. If you picture
the old movies with a damsel in distress tied to a train track, you can bet the EoE is the one
that tied them there.
There are ways to subvert this trope as well, and they’d still fit the archetype. They could
desire to be evil and just fail, or even help the heroes unwittingly.
If you desire to use the EoE in your game, you don’t need to consider a greater reason.
Potentially consider their backstory and how they became the way they are, but that isn’t
necessary if you don’t want to. The hardest part is making them entertaining. If you can
make them an antithesis to the status quo or the heroes themselves, then definitely do that.
Examples from fiction include:
● Sauron from Lord of the Rings
● The Joker from Batman
● The Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz
● Darth Vader from Star Wars
The Mastermind
The Mastermind is the intellectual rival to the heroes. Hatching schemes, laying traps, the
Mastermind is the big planner holding each individual piece in the chess game. Traditionally
an evil genius who seeks power, control, and more often than not, money. Character
development isn’t incredibly necessary either, as the only factor that needs to be highlighted
is their superior intelligence. The Mastermind is often paired with others on this list (The
Machine and the Henchman), as their physical capabilities are normally ineffectual. They’d
rather outsmart and outplay their opponents outside of combat.
If you desire to use the Mastermind in your game, it’s likely best to give them an army or
some form of subservient entity to do their physical work. Overcoming this villain directly
lends itself to roleplay scenarios well, so if your party is geared to that, this may just be the
villain for you.
Examples from fiction include:
● Lex Luthor from Superman
● Hans Gruber from Die Hard
● Black Zetsu from Naruto Shippuden
● Mr. Wilford from Snowpiercer
The Bully
The Bully is a simple, straightforward antagonist that just wants to hinder the heroes as
much as possible, usually just because they find it entertaining, but it could also just be for
the sake of it.
The Bully may come with a backstory as to why they are as mean as they are, traditionally
it’s attributed to parental neglect, abuse, or coddling. They can also be as deranged as you
need them to be for the function of the game. Do you need a villain to steal your players’
glory for a quest? The Bully works. Or do you need a villain to carve their name into
someone’s stomach? Again, that’s the Bully’s flair.
If you desire to use the Bully in your game, just make them mean for seemingly unnecessary
means. The idea of “doing something bad because it’s funny” is eternally relevant and
happens everywhere in fiction. Anything from hazing to literally taking candy from a baby.
Examples from fiction include:
● Eric Cartman from South Park
● Henry Bowers from IT
● Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
● Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons
The Henchman
The Henchman is normally in service to another category on this list. They do as they are
told and generally are cannon fodder for the heroes to deal with at constant intervals.
Functionally they behave as the sidekick, and though individuals in this role can have
personalities and characters, it’s ultimately not necessary.
If you desire to use the Henchman in your game, make sure you have a bigger villain giving
them dirty work to do. Make them as competent and threatening or as ineffectual as you like,
either way, they will not be the focal point of your game.
Examples include:
● The Stormtroopers from Star Wars
● The Death Eaters from Harry Potter
● Oddjob from Goldfinger
● Simon from The Walking Dead
The Obsessive
This is a new-ish category of villain that I decided to include, as it doesn’t strictly fit into the
others.
The Obsessive is a villain that is devoted to the heroes to an unhealthy level. They have this
hyper-idealised vision of the heroes in their head and that vision is either destroyed or
changed after meeting them. This villain would work great for a later chapter of the story
when party members are approaching or have celebrity status in the world. Their entire goal
revolves around targeting the hero for destruction.
If you desire to include The Obsessive in your game, backstories can be negligible, as all
that needs to be evident is that their devotion to the hero is unhealthy and causing harm to
people around them.
Examples in fiction include:
● Annie Wilkes from Misery
● Hisoka from Hunter X Hunter
● Syndrome from The Incredibles
● Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh!
The Anti-Villain
The Anti-Villain shares properties with the anti-hero in that they do acts that are commonly
associated with their counterpart, or have redeeming qualities.
The Anti-Villain in most narratives is given a redemption arc, and though that may not be
possible in TTRPGs as the players tend to decide the finer strokes of what happens, they
can provide great conflict for party members to deal with.
If you desire to include The Anti-Villain in your game, the big factor is that you have to make
one or more facets of their personality likeable, redeemable, or admirable. So maybe the
Anti-Villain is a cold-blooded killer but he would do anything to protect a child? It’s very basic
but that kind of thinking is a way to have a graded scale of villains.
Examples in fiction include:
● Negan Smith from The Walking Dead
● Magneto from X-Men
● Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter
● Garou from One Punch Man
To Summarise
The biggest takeaway from this is that villains are still characters, and they should be treated
as such. Even if they are a mindless drone, you can create a character for them with the
atmosphere around them. Make the villain fun, and interesting, and the narrative of your
game becomes more than just a few dice rolls; it becomes a story people get invested in.
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PLAY, OBEY, CONSUME.