Cerise Magazine

I have always enjoyed creating villains. For me, they are the heart of a good adventure. A well-sculpted villain gives players an object to loathe and pursue over the course of many gaming sessions, or perhaps even an entire campaign. Sometimes, however, it can be difficult to devise a villain who is both a suitable antagonist for the game and genuinely threatening and dangerous. For obvious reasons, no Game Master wants all of their players’ characters dead before the adventure gets going, but if nobody feels threatened by the villain, then something’s clearly missing. One solution to this is the “Guest Star” villain.

It happens to us all; as the player characters in our campaign grow, we become attached to them and don’t want to see them harmed. While most players do crave excitement and danger, they also don’t want to risk losing their beloved characters. This can lead to GMs wanting to play it safe, creating routine, predictable villains who serve no purpose beyond being minor obstacles on the party’s path to glory. Once in a while, it’s important to try shaking things up a bit.

This happened to me when I was running a Ravenloft campaign six or seven years ago. As a burgeoning game master, I had cut my teeth on Ravenloft. Feast of Goblyns, Ship of Horror, Roots of Evil; I had run just about every module made for the Gothic horror setting. I prided myself on my ability to spook players with believable villains. But over time, my gaming group grew accustomed to my style, and the threats facing the player characters grew too predictable and easy to overcome. I had to do something drastic to bring excitement back into my game.

Enter Fletan

I contacted my friend Todd, one of my old gaming buddies who had moved from Boston (our hometown) to Vermont, and asked him if he would run my campaign’s next villain. Todd was a little confused at first; how could he run a villain at my weekly games if he was hundreds of miles away? I explained to him that we would use a play by mail model. First I would allow him to create a villain. Then I would give him resources available to that villain. Each week, using a simple tracking sheet I had invented, he would provide me with his intentions and the orders given to his henchmen. He would also keep me updated on his villain’s long-term plans. Whenever his character was physically threatened by the party, I would do my best to contact him by phone so he could decide how to proceed. In case he could not be reached, he also provided me with a list of contingency plans.

Intrigued, Todd agreed. One week later he sent me his villain, Fletan. The character had everything: background, motivation, mannerisms. Todd’s theatre background really helped flesh out the villain in a way that I never would have done myself. I decided that Fletan would be a villain that had established himself. He would already have titles, a keep, henchmen and a large horde of gold. We decided that Fletan would hire the players to retrieve a powerful magic item that, once its true nature was discovered, the players could never turn over to a madman like Fletan.
At our next gaming session, I informed the group of Todd’s role as their next nemesis. I did not tell them who his character was, only that the next villain they encountered would be steered by Todd and not myself. I also told them that, out of fairness, I would not pull any punches for the duration of the campaign. Dice would be rolled in full view rather than behind the game master’s screen, and all results would be final. I was surprised by the level of anticipation this generated among the players. They were truly eager to face such an unorthodox villain, but they were also afraid for their characters. They knew that this was going to be different from our previous adventures.

The games that followed were brilliant. The players made their way through Todd’s minions and traps with a genuine sense of accomplishment. Todd was really attempting to do them in, carefully plotting Fletan’s responses to the players actions. They had obtained the powerful item he longed for, and as expected they had fled to the corners of the world to keep it from him. Then, weary from the constant barrage of foes, they decided it was time to confront Fletan at his headquarters. A glorious final battle would be waged.

Todd and I knew this had to be executed perfectly. He had been planning to come visit anyway, so he agreed to come up and run Fletan at our next session. Before he arrived, I determined that his spies knew of the players’ intentions to assault Fletan’s keep, so he was given time to prepare. The ace up his sleeve would be one of his minions, a powerful Rakshasa demon. The players had been led to believe that they controlled the Rakshasa and it was a friendly character, but at a crucial point during the battle, it would reveal its true allegiance and turn on them.

What followed was the most exiting three plus hours of gaming any of us had experienced. Nobody involved – the players, the GM, the villain – had any idea how this was going to turn.

As planned, the Rakshasa turned on the party. A frantic fight for survival ensued as the players tried desperately to fend the beast off, deal with Fletan’s lesser minions, and infiltrate his keep. Although half of the party was wiped out, clever thinking - and a potion of monster control - helped the players regain an edge. Using the potion, they turned the Rakshasa against its master, and Fletan was destroyed in a whirl of blades and fireballs.

Adding Guest Stars to Your Game

Of course, “Guest Star” villains should be used sparingly. They are also not for every gaming group, and some players might resent the amount of freedom and resources given to their antagonist. But when things grow a little stale, it can be a great way to revitalize the game. There are some rules to keep in mind however.

Rule One: Select your guest star with care. Not all players can handle the role of guest star villain. Some might take it too far. The best candidates are those who have run many of their own successful campaigns, and also display a sense of sportsmanship.

Rule Two: Carefully determine the challenge level of the campaign. The resources, both economic and political, that the guest star villain receives will be determined by the challenge level of the game. Game Masters should carefully consider the party’s level, magic items, and resourcefulness when working with the guest star to create a villain. Above all, the challenge presented by the villain must be a fair one. An inexperienced party, for instance, should not have to take on a dragon. Strive for an even match that could go either way.

Rule Three: Be fair to the guest star. They’re giving up their own time to make your game better, so pay attention to their plans and ideas and make sure all of their minions do what they want them to do. An extensive tracking sheet will really make a difference here. It should include a list of their henchmen and economic resources, as well as be able to project and keep track of their henchmen’s movements and activities over several sessions. For example, if the guest star sends a spy into the party, let them know what was discovered.

Rule Four: Be fair to the players. Let the players know what is going on, why you are doing it, and what the ground rules are.

Rule Five: Establish ground rules. Ground rules will vary from campaign to campaign, but they should help establish a sense of fairness and consistency. In my campaign the ground rules were simple: no fudged rolls, and the player controlling the guest villain will be contacted in the instance that they are directly attacked by the party.

Used well, a guest star villain will help keep players on their toes and breathe new life into long-running campaigns.

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Guest Star Villainy: Outsourcing Evil NPCs

June 2008 Issue

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Enter Fletan

Adding Guest Stars to Your Game