Step 2 for Writing Super Hero Adventures: Villains!

This is a continuation of my blog post from a few weeks ago where I’m breaking down my process for designing and running a super hero RPG adventure. In the previous post we talked about determining the purpose of your adventure, brainstorming/writing your synopsis, research, and determining the characters who will be played. Now that you’ve got that pre-work out of the way, it’s time to sit down and really start zeroing in on the real meat of the writing process. I’ll be going over creating villains and their motivations. This honestly deserves a post to itself, because it is CRITICAL to making a memorable super hero story.

Designing a good bad guy is one of my favorite parts of the GM puzzle. There’s nothing like crafting the perfectly punchable face to go up against a team of super heroes. From overarching masterminds to the jobber of the week, there is a wide variety of antagonists to challenge and annoy your PCs. It can be difficult to narrow down exactly what your adventure calls for, but that is one of the most entertaining questions to answer. This is entirely subjective and you’ll need to rely on your GM instinct to select the perfect villain for your story. There are some ways to make this easier though!

So when you’re selecting or designing your villain, especially villains who are supposed to carry an adventure on their own, it’s important to look for three major traits: competency, proactivity, and sympathy. I describe these as such:

• Competency: The villain has the ability to enact their plan and combat the heroes, either directly or with the use of their resources and assets.
• Proactivity: The villain is taking steps to actively pursue their goals and move the plot along. They also have the ability to adapt to changes and obstacles put in their path by the heroes and/or law enforcement.
• Sympathy: There’s something about the villain that is intriguing to the players. I might need a better word for this, but basically the villain has something that the players can latch on to. This can be a complex, understandable motivation, a tragic backstory, a cool costume or powerset, or a wicked sense of humor. Something that makes the villain stick out in the player’s mind.

Antagonists don’t need all three, but aim for at least two. These traits ensure that the villain can carry the adventure, and will have your players talking about them for years to come.

To show this in practice, I’m going to use my Sinister Six example from the previous blog post. For the main villain of this piece, I selected Peter Parker, specifically Peter wearing the Symbiote suit. I could have gone a few different directions based on the synopsis: “The Sinister Six are all that stand between New York and an army of ravenous symbiotes.” I could have chosen Venom (technically I did) or Carnage as ringleaders of this plan, and that would have been fine. They will probably make some kind of appearance in the story as lieutenants of Peter. Based on my research in step 1, I could even go obscure and select Knull, Void Knight, or the symbiote-dragons (I will definitely have symbiote-dragons show up, because that’s cool as hell.) But after looking at all my options, Symbiote Spider-Man was the best choice for my story.

Since I’m working on a one-shot, the villain needs to have the gravitas and power to carry an entire story by themselves. I needed someone iconic, who could strike fear into the hearts of players from the word go. I also needed a villain clever enough to come up with a scheme that could challenge 6 super beings, especially beings as wily as Otto Octavius and Norman Osborn. In a fun bit of irony, players signing up for a Sinister Six game would sit down expecting to fight Spider-Man, and I’m providing that experience with a twist!

So how does Peter fulfill the three requirements I laid out? He is competent. In the comics, Spider-Man routinely takes on the Sinister Six and triumphs. He’s got a versatile power set, experience, and intelligence. All of that is being amplified by his connection to the symbiote, and the way I’m writing it, Peter is going to have a bit of an edge to him. (Cue dancing Toby Maguire scene) The symbiote is going to be using Spidey’s powers, intellect, and perseverance without his morals. Essentially all that great power with none of the responsibility.

The symbiote is also going to be proactive. It’s been using Peter to accomplish its goals of softening up the Earth for the aforementioned symbiote invasion. I won’t reveal too much about its plan, for the sake of not spoiling the game for folks who are signing up for Origins 2021 or 2022. Safe to say, prior to the adventure’s start, Spidey has been ingraining himself with Earth’s mightiest heroes and using his access to ensure they won’t be around when the invasion kicks off. He’s also been traveling around New York, preparing critical systems to fail when the Klyntar arrive. During the adventure, as the Sinister Six move in to hunt a spider, he’s going to be putting obstacles in their way, and reacting to their successes. Proactivity (outside of pregame prep) is largely something that has to be handled during the running of the game, rather than writing, so we’ll talk about that in a future post.

Spider-Man is sympathetic too. He’s an incredibly popular super hero, and the entry point for most fans of the Sinister Six as well. Seeing him break bad because of being overpowered by the symbiote is going to strike a chord with people. Some groups may even decide that killing evil Spider-Man doesn’t count (I could see a Kraven player making this argument) and they’ll rally around the idea of saving Peter while stopping the symbiotes. Or they’ll relish the chance to finally have their favorite Sinister Six villain succeed in their fight against the Webbed-Menace.

However it shakes out, players will gravitate towards Peter as the antagonist. This is a benefit of using popular characters when working in famous universes.

Sympathy is the hardest of these traits to manufacture when creating your own villains. If you don’t have years of comic fandom to fallback on, it falls to you as GM to generate that interest. When designing an antagonist, ask yourself what draws you to some of your favorite villains. Feel free to pull from those characters or tropes, especially if you’re just starting out. When you get comfortable analyzing those popular ideas, you’ll be stronger at creating new ones. Another benefit you have is no one knows your players’ tastes as well as you do. Communicate with them to see what appeals to them from a villain, and design yours along those lines.

So we’ve talked at length about creating or choosing villains for your adventure. They are as much the star of the story as your PCs. Getting this right will lead to you having more memorable adventures. Just remember to make sure your antagonists are competent, proactive, and sympathetic and you will be most of the way there. Next time we’ll talk about outlining your plot and creating an exciting opening scene. Until then, let me know who your favorite villains are and may all your hits be crits!