Serious Villain Arcs (Without Being a Hired Thug)
By
BadJuJu,
Posted on: 2009-04-02 15:06 in Mission Architect
In the only villain arc I'm planning at the moment, I use an inanimate object as the contact (a computer console) and set the entire "contact" dialog to be the villain's inner thoughts to set his own scheme in motion. There's no third party involved, the contact dialog just comments on mission progress; "kind of" like how the newspaper missions are set up, but with an actual plot behind it.
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Well, this is just a general thought, but because objects can be used as contacts, an author could write a story where a villain gets an idea, does some stuff, ???, and evil results. For instance, there is an arcane table; an evil mystic could start an arc by checking out an incantation to summon a demon to work for him/her and the story could revolve around summoning it.
Alternatively you could set up the contact with dialog as though he is your lackey or a Scientist you kidnapped. Through exposition you can imply that you had him working on something for you previous to the first mission and you are only now taking action to fulfill your plan.
One obstacle with this is you have to take some liberties with the players character. Any time you are taking words, thoughts, or actions out of the players hands you run the risk of annoying that player.
Architect Entertainment is a game within a game. I think this is an area where you have to just wave your hands and say "Whatever a villain's true motive might be, he is currently standing in a lobby of a virtual reality game company because he wants to engage in some entertaining roleplay. By definition, he is consenting to follow whatever motivations the virtual reality game requires of him."
In other words, don't sweat it.
Otherwise, take the newspaper missions approach: "You read that blah blah blah is happening. That sounds like something you'd like a piece of." and just roll on assuming that the player agrees with you.
- Take over (pick a US city or state). Nab key government officials and plant control chips in them or replace them with convincing doubles.
- Test your (insert mad science device here) on an appropriate population. Fight hero groups who try to stop you. Test the worthiness of the mutated population by fighting them in the streets.
- To better promote your new brand of (insert product here), eliminate companies that produce rival brands.
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The problem is that this brings in some roleplaying by design. For heroes, you don't need to ask "Why would I be doing this" because they're blunt instruments -- they fight crime, period. Villains however take action for their own goals, their own reasons, with their own tools. Any assumptions you make about those three things will limit your audience, since it'll "feel wrong" for them to play an arc that goes against their character.
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That's a big assumption right there. I have a few hero characters that use thier powers for personal gain. Stopping a crime while doing so is just a side effect or easy publicity.
Crimefighting is not always the ends, sometimes it's the means
Some villains may be bad to a degree, like robbing and extortion, but might actually attempt to stop another villain from comitting murder, as is kind of the philosophy of one of my villains. I plan on using that in a future MA arc
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Hm, I might have to do something like this at some point.
Though I think it might be a good idea to make the description line something like:
"Ever wanted to summon your own major demon? Now you can, with Exzjrb's Demon Summoning Kit! [Note: Object Contact assumes PC is self-motivated and rather evil. Requires Human sacrifice.]"
Things like: "[Note: Story assumes your character is a Demon]" are preobably also good. 
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Architect Entertainment is a game within a game. I think this is an area where you have to just wave your hands and say "Whatever a villain's true motive might be, he is currently standing in a lobby of a virtual reality game company because he wants to engage in some entertaining roleplay. By definition, he is consenting to follow whatever motivations the virtual reality game requires of him."
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Isn't that assumption itself terribly limiting to the kinds of stories that can be told? (And who can participate - I know that almost none of my characters would ever set foot in an AE as described. Heck, some of them would be picketing it or spray-painting "obvious trap is obvious" on the walls.)
I'm sure I'm not the only mission creator who ignores the "official" backstory (with all its gaping holes) and just treats the MA as an interface, a means of getting our stories out to other players. Since we can't actually add contacts to the gameworld, the author and the players agree to pretend together that the "hologram" they're talking to is as real as any other contact, and is actually standing in Cap au Diable or Kings Row or wherever.
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Architect Entertainment is a game within a game. I think this is an area where you have to just wave your hands and say "Whatever a villain's true motive might be, he is currently standing in a lobby of a virtual reality game company because he wants to engage in some entertaining roleplay. By definition, he is consenting to follow whatever motivations the virtual reality game requires of him."
In other words, don't sweat it.
Otherwise, take the newspaper missions approach: "You read that blah blah blah is happening. That sounds like something you'd like a piece of." and just roll on assuming that the player agrees with you.
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Right... The devs keep telling us that. I suppose its technically true but I don't believe for a minute the majority of the people building missions or playing these arcs believe that. These are their missions. This is their character. Having an author play a character for you wont go well.
Try to play my arc Gangland on test, while alot of it seems like another hired thug missions, there's a twist at the end you may enjoy.
"I accidently killed Synapse, do we need to restart the mission?" - The Oldest One on Lord Recluses Strike Force
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Right... The devs keep telling us that. I suppose its technically true but I don't believe for a minute the majority of the people building missions or playing these arcs believe that. These are their missions. This is their character. Having an author play a character for you wont go well.
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I agree with you in principle. I write my arcs as if the player character is living it, not as if it's a game. (Well, unless participating in a virtual reality game is the point of the mission.) The fact is, though, that you have to make some kind of assumption about the player's motivation or you can't play at all.
If your goal is to make the mission "personal" for the player, then you have to pretty much dictate to the player that it IS personal. Otherwise, you have to just be willing to deal with the fact that player villains will object to a goal that doesn't fit their motives and go do something else.
Try to couch the intro in terms of general player motive.
"With your main schemes moving along nicely, you found the time to pursue a side project: blah blah blah."
"While perpetrating your most recent scheme, you ran across a reference to X, who is working at cross-purposes to your goals. You decide to show him who really runs this town."
"Your current operation hits a snag and Contact X proposes a trade - He fixes your problem in exchange for you fixing his problem."
etc..., etc...
Acknowledge that the player HAS over-arching plans but keep them nebulous and draw some equally nebulous hand-waving connections that justify how your mission will benefit the player's primary schemes.
Some of my story-lines for villains are initiated by people who know a few things but are a little thin on the mayhem and violence side. They're willing to share some of their information with the villain, to the profit of both parties, but they're usually careful not to make themselves expendable by giving the whole game away.
I'm sure I'm not the only mission creator who ignores the "official" backstory (with all its gaping holes) and just treats the MA as an interface, a means of getting our stories out to other players.
You're not. All of my arcs are written assuming that the actual Contact is giving you a mission. AE, as far as I'm concerned, does not exist.
And I agree that the backstory is wretched. I can't imagine any of my characters being stupid enough to use any technology created by either Aeon or Crey, and I can only assume at this point that the devs are deliberately messing with our heads by describing AE as such.
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And I agree that the backstory is wretched. I can't imagine any of my characters being stupid enough to use any technology created by either Aeon or Crey, and I can only assume at this point that the devs are deliberately messing with our heads by describing AE as such.
[/ QUOTE ] Heh, that reminds me what I said on the first day of open beta; "Built by Aeon and funded by Crey. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?" Yah, I agree with the setiment that as far as I'm concerned, the contact for my story arc is real as is the quest she sends you on. Otherwise, I can't possibly imagine any of my characters entering an AE building knowing who built it (with one exception, a bots/traps MM of mine who is probably more insane than Aeon >.> ).
Heh. Sounds like alot of people think the entire Backstory behind this is Stupid and BS but everyone is willing to put up with it because a) It allows us to do some cool things and B) It is easy to ignore
At some point I plan to make an arc that is truly villainous - where the character running the missions is committing evil for evil's sake. While it's true that comic book villainy often involves such lofty goals that it's impossible to fit into a shared world that doesn't change after success, real evil doesn't have to have such visible effects to be brutally effective.
I fully expect a good proportion of villain players will hate it.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
I agree that the backstory is lacking and limiting, and for the most part I am choosing to ignore it as well. Although several arcs have successfully integrated the AE as a part of their story, and I admire them for that.
As for the topic at hand, its a good avenue to explore, and actually goes to the heart of the problem with CoV in general, at least for me. I actually prefer the ATs available red side, but have a very difficult time weaving the backstory of the missions there into the motivations for most of my villains. Yes, just like the AE I can ignore the premise behind many of the redside arcs, I just wish I had to do less ignoring. The MA gives us a good opportunity for that. I think there are some good ideas above, and I hope to see more for implementing arcs for villains that don't stomp all over the backstory of any given character.
However, there may also be merit in making villain arcs for many different motivations, and making the motivation clear in the description so that players may choose arcs that fit their character and skip those that do not.
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Although several arcs have successfully integrated the AE as a part of their story, and I admire them for that.
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I thought about starting a thread along the lines of "Premises consistent with the AE backstory that let you do basically anything you want".
I've held off mostly because I had the feeling that an open discussion might irritate people who came up with those ideas independently and wanted to finish their personal creations before revealing their methods. In a way it's like PvP tactics; letting people explore and find their own solutions is often a good part of the fun, and I didn't want to create what might basically amount to a "spoiler" thread.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
In my Villainous arc (Chance of a Lifetime, warning, starts with a Ballista and lots of AVs), you are browbeating the contact into helping you. Yes, I define the plot (after getting a Rikti power supply of incredible strength, you decide to build a killer robot with it). If you succeed at the end, you get your killer robot (which would really mess up the status quo if it was awarded in the game).
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
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That would be a great temp power though <,<
I think when I get around to doing a redside arc (eventually!) I'll probably go with a more 'Rogue/Rebel' approach than the traditional villain.
That is - Yes, you do bad things; but you have a good intention. It's just that perhaps your methods are... well... villainous at the least.
For example: Saving your small country from being overrun by an evil warlord... by gasing his supporters and kidnapping his family. The goal isn't evil, but the method certainly is. But it's also something I think people could sympathize with a bit better.
That of course is just me - I've never been a fan of the "Brotherhood of Evil" approach, where it's "Let's do EVIL because its EVIL!"
So... from my perspective... a humanly understandable goal is a good idea - it doesn't have to be at all noble like what I mentioned above; it just needs to make sense.
Ex:
I want to create a giant death robot... Because it will help me achieve a specific goal - be it revenge, extortion, or even just joyriding around Paragon blasting buildings.
I want to steal nerve gas... Because then I can ransom a school for loads of cash; or because I have a political agenda; or because I really really hate people and nerve gas is effecient.
I want a moon laser... because moon lasers are 'frikkin' sweet'; because carving your name on the Earth from space is cooler than doing it to the moon from Earth; because Igor said to...
Etc...
If we could have branching paths, that would make life *so* much easier. Obviously, that's not available yet, but it would help immensely.
Hrmm... I just thought of something (the moonbase laser arc someone made just gave me this idea) -
What about labeling Villainous arcs as if they were schemes a given villain might pick from their "Big Catalog of Dastardly Plans".
Like literally name the arc "Steal Nerve Gas, Extort Washington"
or "Build a Giant Robot and Crush Paris"
Probably thinking too hard >.<
*sigh* I'm gonna have to make an evil arc now <;_;> aren't I? People always makin work for me...
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God help us if the Devs open up the Mayhem maps.
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Although several arcs have successfully integrated the AE as a part of their story, and I admire them for that.
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I thought about starting a thread along the lines of "Premises consistent with the AE backstory that let you do basically anything you want".
I've held off mostly because I had the feeling that an open discussion might irritate people who came up with those ideas independently and wanted to finish their personal creations before revealing their methods. In a way it's like PvP tactics; letting people explore and find their own solutions is often a good part of the fun, and I didn't want to create what might basically amount to a "spoiler" thread.
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Well, since my Arc is done, I'll say that the way that I got around this was that the future DJ Zero figured out how to turn the AE equipment into a time machine, and is contacting the PC through its holographic interface. So it leaves the "AE as Holodeck" story intact, but makes the contact and missions "real" at the same time.
More shameless self promotion.
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God help us if the Devs open up the Mayhem maps.
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I was rather disappointed that we didn't get them. I was hoping to include one as part of my villain arc, but at least we get the Pawn Shop and Jewelry Store maps to work with.
Something interesting I was talking about with folks on the test server earlier; thought I'd throw it open to the floor.
What are some good, solid premises you can use to make a villain arc which isn't straight up comic book parody, but doesn't resort to the old COV contact standby of "Carry out my orders, hired thug, to further my own aims"?
The problem is that this brings in some roleplaying by design. For heroes, you don't need to ask "Why would I be doing this" because they're blunt instruments -- they fight crime, period. Villains however take action for their own goals, their own reasons, with their own tools. Any assumptions you make about those three things will limit your audience, since it'll "feel wrong" for them to play an arc that goes against their character.
So, let's think of some good generic setups that will use the existing tools without relying on standbys.
THE HEIST. This one's straightforward. There's a pile of money / a gadget / a relic you want that's in a secured location, and you need to put together a plan to steal it. Missions set the plan up... kidnapping/hiring key people to make it happen, sabotaging security systems, conning people into helping you. Your contact, rather than saying "Steal this for me!" says "I know people who can help you steal it" and he researches the leads while you take point.
THE STATUS QUO. Heroes fight villains because villains try to change the status quo in ways they don't approve of. Why not turn that around? Villains CAN fight heroes because they're trying to change the status quo in ways the villains don't approve of. Maybe Longbow built a superweapon they plan to use to erradicate Arachnos. Maybe a new supergroup showed up and is being too effective in fighting crime. Even if you aren't directly benefitting yourself but villains in general, taking the heroes down a peg back to "normal" can raise your respect in the isles, which is a good motivator.
REVENGE: An unspoken incident, or something that happens in Mission 1, results in a hero screwing up everything you've been working towards or stealing something you held dear. It's payback time. Hunt him down, beat up his supergroup, then in the end exact your revenge in inches. It's simple, but does assume there's something the hero did which your villain would find offensive. Contact could be an informant within the hero's group, or just someone who monitors hero activity and reports it.
THE DOUBLE CROSS: This one's common in COV, but in the MA, you can really go the distance since nobody says the contact has to SURVIVE the encounter. You start running jobs for the contact or they start arranging things for you, then they betray you -- after that point all communication is allegedly done on a cellphone or something. Last mission, you go maul them, and the finale text has their "Curse you!" or "Aaaagh I am dead" response.
What are some other setups that you can think of which allow a villain to truly be their own person, within the framework of MA?
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