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How I Introduce a Main Villain

So recently, I introduced my campaign’s main/top villain. Basically, the villain that they’re gonna be chasing around the entire campaign in their travels. And I wanted it to be extra special. So I wanna talk a little bit about how to really build up to a villain and make their first appearance truly terrifying, from the perspective of a creative writing major who’s entire life has revolved itself around good storytelling and narratives.

Introduce a common goal and get your players asking questions.

It’s very important to not just throw the villain at the players and say “fight them”. You want to build up to the experience, really set up the reputation of this villain. My villain is a prophet to a forbidden goddess of war who wants to reign war on the continent for both it’s punishment and salvation. So with her being so worldly, I intertwined her into each character’s backstory without telling any of the other characters. I’d drop something simple like a symbol they saw in each background, and told them this is their only clue to their goals. Then, when they finally all saw the symbol again, they were all like “OH FUCK! I KNOW THAT! Wait… you know that too? Wtf is going on?” And from there, they start asking questions about this symbol. You don’t have to do it this way, as it’s just one example of course. But your goal is to get them asking questions. Maybe have your players witness a brutal execution, or solve a murder, and eventually relate it back to the villain without actually having them show up. Just get them asking questions. Make them care about stopping whatever is going on, without actually knowing who is behind it.

Set the reputation of your villain and introduce some foreshadowing.

Once the players start asking questions, you obviously need to have some answers. And I say “some” very earnestly here. You don’t want them to have all the answers, so don’t reveal too much. Just give them an inch and let them take a mile if they want to. Let them build an idea of this villain in their mind. Have most relevant NPCs have at least a little bit of information on your villain, even if it’s just a name or a title. But be prepared for difficulties such as divination magics and the like. Sometimes players dig too hard before you’re ready, so think hard about what you’re ready to reveal and prepare in advance for spells and trickery. When it comes to setting this reputation, you wanna give tidbits of information like rumors of their atrocities and cruelties. Gossip can be outlandish and crazy, so don’t be afraid to have conflicting accounts of things. It makes things interesting. You can introduce encounters with henchmen of said villain and reveal information that way, too. Mislead, fool, and lie to your players to confuse them if you can. Hell, you can even throw in some things you can parallel much later on in the final reveal. The more mysterious this villain is, the more enticing they’ll be and the more the players will want to seek them out.

Think about what your villain knows about the players and how they try to stop them from getting in the way.

Players love their backstories coming into play. Everyone loves everything being about them. So maybe your villain knows some good shit about your players and uses it against them. Maybe someone gets kidnapped, or tortured, or even killed. You want some motivation to really go after this villain, so have them pull some sketchy shit long before ever revealing themselves. Having someone you’ve never met before come after you from behind a curtain can really piss someone off and motivate them to seek you out. And it can make the final reveal that much more important and dramatic.

The final reveal of your main villain.

This is the biggest and final step. You want to take everything the characters have learned and put it all together in this final reveal. There can be a lot of pressure, and yet a lot of fun involved in this step. The first you wanna do though, is set the mood/atmosphere. How I did it was I turned all the lights down to very low, but still visible lighting. I played eerie music, and then I began to use a little strobe light i got from spirit halloween from behind my dm station, and I used the scariest, deepest voice I could possibly muster when speaking as her. I gave her a long winded introduction that confirmed to everyone that this was indeed the one they’ve been seeking. I believe it went “My name is Nirnasha. Prophet to Apollyon. Among the last of the Aasimar. The only war cleric left in Sephias…. And I am the one who cannot die.” Introductions are important, because it establishes the truth of who this person is and how they carry themselves. But your villain might not even do it like this. It really depends on their personality. Maybe they just go straight for the kill. Maybe they’re super cruel and brutal and attack with a viciousness and intent to mutilate. Really think about how they fight and keep it interesting. And definitely don’t forget dialogue. Please, guys. This part is so important to keep the atmosphere. Bring up rumors, gossip, trickery, lies, shit talk, low blows, anything and everything to piss off the players and make the win even better…. if they win. You can even throw in disadvantages for being so enraged that you can’t control yourself. But the three important things for your final reveal is: atmosphere, dialogue, and descriptions. And finally, don’t forget to ask your players how they wanna do this when/if they get the final blow on their villain. That will make everything feel like a major play off.

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Megaloceros skeleton display at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

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Quick WIP of a megaloceros

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Women employed in a Piña shop, Manila, Philippines, 1899

J. Tewell photography

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Vigan, Ilocos Sur

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a ghost for the summerween feelings.

*commissions are open until 13.8.2019! Shop in Bio*

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Rose Hope

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So I'm a writer and I'm considering writing a half Jewish character who has a Catholic father who wants him to be Catholic as well but I'm wondering if that would be offensive and since you're Jewish and a author I figured you'd be a good person to ask. I want tension between this character and his family but I don't want to come off as insensitive.

Go and talk to Catholics and talk to Jews, and, if you can, talk to people who have found themselves in the position that your character would be in.

In my experience, people are not offended if you did the work and are treating characters with respect. And just because circumstances are hard for your characters doesn’t mean you are a bad person. It means you are telling a story and the most important thing in storytelling is to put your characters in situations that reveal their character. Give them obstacles.

(And given that Judaism is matrilineal, if the character’s mother is Jewish, he’s considered Jewish. Was he circumcised? Was he bar mitzvahed? I once watched a friend’s relationship fall apart because the Catholic grandfather tried to get a baby secretly baptised – and I never knew if it had ended because of religion or trust issues.)

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Mood.

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The sea waves are my evening gown And the sun on my head is my crown I made this queendom on my own And all the mountains are my throne

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▪︎St. Joan of Arc.

Date: 1836

Artist: Princesse Marie-Christine d’ Orleans (French, 1813-1839)

Place of origin: France

Medium: Bronze

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���Bonifacius" (1905) by Emil Doepler

Jove’s Oak, Donar’s Oak, or Thor’s Oak was a sacred tree of the Germanic pagans located in an unclear location in what is now the state of Hessen in Central Germany. According to the 8th century Vita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldi, the Anglo-Saxon missionary Saint Boniface and his retinue cut down the tree earlier that same century. Wood from the oak was reportedly used to build a church at the site dedicated to Saint Peter.

Sacred groves and sacred trees were venerated throughout the history of the Germanic peoples and were targeted for destruction by Christian missionaries during the forced Christianization of the Germanic peoples. Ken Dowden notes that behind this great oak dedicated to Donar, the Irminsul (also felled by Christian missionaries in the 8th century), and the Sacred tree at Uppsala (described by Adam of Bremen in the 11th century), stands a mythic prototype of an immense world tree, described in Norse mythology as Yggdrasil

Most scholars agree that the site mentioned by Wilibald is Geismar near Fritzlar. Unequivocal identification of Geismar near Fritzlar as the location of the Donar Oak is found in the Catholic Encyclopedia, in teaching materials for religious studies classes in Germany, in the work of Alexander Demandt, in histories of the Carolingians, and in the work of Lutz von Padberg. The Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde notes that for Willibald it was probably not necessary to specify the location any further as he presumed it widely known. This Geismar was close to Büraburg, then a hill castle and a Frankish stronghold.

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Juneau, Alaska

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🌍 Tongass Forest, Juneau, Alaska, US

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BLACK BUTTERFLY. Costume design by Alfredo Edel, 1911.

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Mardi Gras costume designs from the late 19th/early 20th century. Masters of the Universe in the Victorian era.

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A 19th-century Batgirl. From La mode illustrée, Journal de la famille (1887).