Villains make the game fun

[Anaris]

Well, you don't want to have too many villain characters. You just want to have a few really good ones.

[Eldargard]

Well, I am making my first attempt at a villain. I expect him to have a truly bumpy road - and perhaps a short one. As my first attempt at a villain I expect to make a lot of mistakes.

I am hoping to avoid taking the route of being perfectly noble and dandy until enough power is gathered and instead play the guy as cruel and vicious from the start. The man is certainly nothing like me.

I have to thank the contributors to this thread for the inspiration. I doubt I would have attempted to play such a character otherwise and the first few days has been fun! I just hope I do not screw things up too badly!

[Dante Silverfire]

I am hoping to avoid taking the route of being perfectly noble and dandy until enough power is gathered and instead play the guy as cruel and vicious from the start. The man is certainly nothing like me.

Speaking from experience, I can say that such a route of beginning noble isn't always a bad form of RP. It is quite reasonable to depict the gaining of power as a slow means of destroying the honor of your character. Anyone who knows the full history of Brom could chart his beginning as a purely noble character to one that manipulated all sorts of machinations behind the scenes.

But best of luck in your route. Never tried it myself.

[Eldargard]

Power corrupts and all that. Makes good sense. I have certainly found it difficult to balance things so far and it has only been a few days. Go to far with evil and get nowhere but too go little and I might as well go for slow corruption or sudden crazy...

[Norrel]

Power corrupts and all that. Makes good sense. I have certainly found it difficult to balance things so far and it has only been a few days. Go to far with evil and get nowhere but too go little and I might as well go for slow corruption or sudden crazy...

As someone in your realm, maybe tone it down a bit. Like, go for more "noble barbarian" than "bloodlust-filled maniac". Love violence and pillaging and all that but maybe keep the raping to yourself.

[Eldargard]

Thank for the constructive criticism. I sought to portray that RP in a way that was not too vulgar and was not something paraded in front of the nobility in game. I can certainly tone it down though.

I was mostly trying to express his complete disregard for commoners. He has a bit more restraint when it comes to nobles - especially those more powerful than he and that is just about everyone!

[Norrel]

Thank for the constructive criticism. I sought to portray that RP in a way that was not too vulgar and was not something paraded in front of the nobility in game. I can certainly tone it down though.

I was mostly trying to express his complete disregard for commoners. He has a bit more restraint when it comes to nobles - especially those more powerful than he and that is just about everyone!

I'm not saying change the character, it's certainly realistic and well-RPed, but change what's made public - even if people only know OOC that your character is a filthy raping hound of a man, it'll influence your ability to do any sort of intrigue or whatever. IDK, I think what you're doing now is fine, but don't be upset if you don't go as far as fast as other people.

[Eldargard]

I fully expected it to impact the character's progress. I was even doubting that Count Nyrox would accept him as a Knight. I am hoping, however, that enough people will be able to separate ic and ooc enough to not make progress impossible. Who knows though? I have no problem with a character failing or dying or being setback though.

[Poliorketes]

Hmm, looking through all these posts. Not many people want become Villains. What do you all think if we give incentive for having a Villain character? 8)

Well, for me, putting aside the psychopath murderers, there is two kinds of villains:

The corrupts/ambitious- They make wherever is need to gain gold or power. It's no personal, it's business! Usually pragmatic and cynics. They have no morale.

The fanatics/Machiavellian- They make wherever is need to obtain his objective. The end justify the means. The objective is the only thing that matters, the morality of the means is totally irrelevant. Usually severe and obsessives. They have morale, but they will forgot/bend it to obtain this objective. Note that the 'objective' can be good, bad or neutral/personal (as a revenge).

[Poliorketes]

 >:( this %&$# mouse had back-stabbed me!... Well, I was saying...  ;D

The first kind is a bit hard to find here, as this game is very... 'homogenized'. The noblemen poor aren't too poor and the rich/powerful aren't too rich either... so it's hard to become corrupt for so little!  8)

I think the second is more probable, religious reason, revenges, 'nobles ambitions', etc...

Overall, I think the game would be a bit less 'fair', Maybe it could be good to have characters really powerful, and with possibilities of abuse of this power.

[egamma]

>:( this %&$# mouse had back-stabbed me!... Well, I was saying...  ;D

The first kind is a bit hard to find here, as this game is very... 'homogenized'. The noblemen poor aren't too poor and the rich/powerful aren't too rich either... so it's hard to become corrupt for so little!  8)

What? We have knights making 40 gold a week and dukes making 800+ gold a week in the same realm. That's a 1:20 disparity, an one you should be able to exploit easily enough--promise lordships to the knights, dukeships to the lords, and you get a nice little rebellion going.

[Anaris]

What? We have knights making 40 gold a week and dukes making 800+ gold a week in the same realm. That's a 1:20 disparity, an one you should be able to exploit easily enough--promise lordships to the knights, dukeships to the lords, and you get a nice little rebellion going.

Unfortunately, there's a piece missing from this that would make the income disparity more meaningful:

There's just not that much to do with your gold.

Once you're making beyond about 150-300 gold/week, it mostly ceases to matter. If you're the Lord of a region that needs major infrastructure improvements, sure, you can use the excess to build them. But what if you're a Knight? What are you going to spend the extra money on?

After a certain point, there's just nothing left to buy.

[egamma]

Unfortunately, there's a piece missing from this that would make the income disparity more meaningful:

There's just not that much to do with your gold.

Once you're making beyond about 150-300 gold/week, it mostly ceases to matter. If you're the Lord of a region that needs major infrastructure improvements, sure, you can use the excess to build them. But what if you're a Knight? What are you going to spend the extra money on?

After a certain point, there's just nothing left to buy.

Well, don't tell the knight that--just point out how nice it would be to command special forces instead of those pathetic archers, and how they could name the recruitment center after their family, etc. The idea of lordship is what you're selling; the actual experience may not be super-exciting. But don't tell that country bumpkin that! Be a salesman!

[vonGenf]

What are you going to spend the extra money on?

After a certain point, there's just nothing left to buy.

It depends. What's your price?  ;D

[Dante Silverfire]

Well, for me, putting aside the psychopath murderers, there is two kinds of villains:

The corrupts/ambitious- They make wherever is need to gain gold or power. It's no personal, it's business! Usually pragmatic and cynics. They have no morale.

The fanatics/Machiavellian- They make wherever is need to obtain his objective. The end justify the means. The objective is the only thing that matters, the morality of the means is totally irrelevant. Usually severe and obsessives. They have morale, but they will forgot/bend it to obtain this objective. Note that the 'objective' can be good, bad or neutral/personal (as a revenge).

Yep, I've got one of each. Yay.

It depends. What's your price?  ;D

I think this is a good point. People are too unimaginative these days. Why have 10k gold sitting around? So that when someone pisses you off you can drop a 5k bounty on their head and kick up a storm. You can hire an assassin personally to go hunting after him. You can build a whole bunch of secret society guildhouses across your island and make them very large. Whole bunch of random junk.