Normas de instalación

While the hook draws the characters into an adventure, the villain makes them want to fol- low it through to the end. The villain is the cen- terpiece of an adventure. He is the one that puts into motion the plans the characters must foil. He lurks behind the scenes, dispatching assas- sins to attack the PCs or working to turn their

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UR: City Adventures

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friends against them. There are a few basic ingredients to making a good villain.

A villain should be effective. If the bad guys continually trip over their own cloaks and fall face-first into the mud, the players will have a hard time taking them seriously. The best vil- lains are ruthless and efficient. They should have abilities and powers at least on par with the characters’ capabilities. Create villains with a level at or above the characters’ levels, and see to it that they never appear incompetent or stupid in front of the characters. The easiest way to do this is to build a dreaded

reputation around the villain. His minions refuse to reveal the location of his lair, as they are too terrified of him to go against his orders. Commoners who learn the characters are against him keep their distance for fear of arousing his wrath by association. Speaking his name aloud in public is frowned upon and can bring a con- versation to an abrupt halt. Be careful not to over- do it. At low levels, the characters may face villains who are feared in a particular neighborhood. Jonas the local bully may strike fear into the people at the local tavern, but the mayor is unlikely to have even heard of him.

The villain should have a good reason for committing his evil acts. The characters are powerful champions of good, and no one is liable to cross them without good reason. Only a mad- man steals, kills, and otherwise threatens a city without rhyme or reason. While it might be tempting to cast your villain as simply insane, such justifications quickly grow old. Give your villain a good motive for committing to the path of evil and he will be more believable and easier to develop during the course of a game. Consider the villain’s goals and why he pursues them. Ask yourself why he does not use legiti-

mate, legal means to achieve the same ends. What is it about his personality, the game world background, or the current situation in your campaign that pushed him to villainy? The typ- ical vices are a good place to start: greed, ambi- tion, hatred, jealousy, and fear are all good motivations for a villain.

Greed and ambition are obvious ones: the vil- lain wants more power, money, or magic. He wants it so badly that he is willing to ignore the traditional routes to power. He might simply not have access to them, such as if he grew up a poor peasant in a feudal soci- ety, or illegal or evil methods work faster. Hatred and jealousy can be rooted in the campaign world’s past. If the villain is from a soci- ety, religion, or race with a long-standing hatred or rivalry, he could simply be following what he has been taught. Fear is a bit more com- plex. The villain may be compelled to com- mit evil because his family is held hostage by his superiors or he has been threatened with personal punish- ment. He might believe that his actions are the only way to cope with an important problem, or he could misinterpret the characters’ or the govern- ment’s actions and fight them out of ignorance. In any case, a villain should have good reasons for committing evil acts. They are most likely not proper or acceptable reasons, but a motivation can make a villain believable and memorable.

Plans

Once you have created a villain, his motiva- tions, and his goals, you need to decide on the details of how he goes about fulfilling his aims. At this point, if you have not done so yet, you should create the villain’s stat block and deter- mine his abilities. With those in mind, determine the abilities of his main lieu- tenants and his low-level followers. An

evil wizard may have several apprentices working beneath him and a bodyguard to defend him in battle, while a criminal master- mind may hire assassins, rogues, and fighters to put his plans into motion. Chapter 5 includes new urban monsters and a list of creatures that are commonly encountered in urban areas. Use those lists to flesh out the ranks of the villain’s followers.

For the villain’s major followers, flesh out their motivations, plans, and abilities in the same way that you detailed the villain. Why do they follow the villain? What do they hope to gain? Next, think about how the villain uses his fol- lowers. A brutish ogre mercenary may serve as a bodyguard, while the wily rogue leads the vil- lain’s operatives in the field and coordinates his spies. Determine where the villain and his fol- lowers make their lairs within the city and think about how they conceal their presence from the authorities. A spellcaster may use illusions. Other villains might use disguises or they could simply blend in with the population by taking care to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Finally, make a list of what the villain has to do to bring his plans to fruition. If a criminal mas- termind wants to steal the crown jewels, he may have to insert a spy into the royal court to reconnoiter its defenses, bribe or intimidate servants into helping his men, and find an opportune moment when the castle’s defenses are relaxed to make his strike. By walking through these steps, you develop a clear picture of what the villain wants to do and how he plans on doing it.

Action

A good adventure should have plenty of chances for the characters to take action. Once you have determined a hook, a villain, and the villain’s plans, you should consider what the characters can do to foil them. The best adven- tures allow the PCs to take center stage and become the stars of the action. Action does not necessarily mean combat. Tense negotiations, a daring effort to infiltrate and spy on a wizard, and gathering clues to solve a mystery all count as exciting challenges the PCs may face. Ask yourself what the characters can do to directly solve the adventure or foil the villains’ schemes. If your answers seem to pivot on the characters’ finding and alerting the authorities, bringing an important NPC into the action, or watching as others do the dirty work, revise the

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adventure to draw the PCs directly into the action. The main villain and all the important obstacles should be directly defeated by the characters with their skills, spells, and combat abilities. If NPCs are along for the adventure, they should always have supporting roles. The actions they take should only set up the charac- ters to take center stage. For example, in the final showdown with the villain, the characters should be the ones who are trading sword blows and magic spells with him. An NPC informant might tip the characters off to the bad guy’s location or serve as bait to draw the villain into the open, but once the final battle is at hand, the NPCs should gracefully exit the stage and fade into the background.