Conflict is the heart of RPGs, and there’s no better source of conflict than a well-crafted villain. Villains give heroes a reason to risk life and limb, and they can bring adventures to the PCs whether they want them or not. Creating a compelling villain is the key to keeping your players, and you, interested in your game. What makes campaigns so fun is that they evolve a sense of history. Imagine if you created a new dungeon or a new town for every gaming session. That wouldn’t make for much of a campaign. The characters’ actions would take place in a bubble, having little effect on the next gaming session. For the same reason, creating a new villain for every adventure weakens a campaign and passes up a lot of great gaming opportunities. Villains that are more than a bundle of combat stats will bring a lot of life to your campaign and will give your players stories to remember.

Being evil is not enough to make an NPC a villain. The Dragonlance saga would be nowhere near as interesting if Kitiara was simply an evil warrior. Villains are defined by their relationship to the characters. This relationship will shape how the PCs view the villain and will set the stage for their conflict. The more contact that you can arrange between the PCs and the villain the more dramatic and satisfying will be their final showdown. Imagine how dull a book would be if the author didn’t even write about the villain until the last page of the story. The local necromancer might be the most chaotic and evil man in town, but if he never meets the characters and is discreet enough to avoid drawing any attention to himself, he won’t make much of a villain.

Villains also must be powerful enough to threaten the characters. Unless you want to inject some comedy into your game, a hopelessly incompetent villain will do a better job of amusing the PCs than threatening them. It’s a good idea to give your villain a chance to flex his muscles from time to time. An evil sorcerer may summon a monster to attack the PCs’ hometown, while a villainous warrior may organize a war party to burn and loot outlying villages. Show the characters evidence of your villain’s evil deeds. This will give them a display of his power while providing them with plenty of reasons to oppose him.

Finally, you need a good reason for your villain’s behavior. Giving him an evil alignment and leaving it at that doesn’t do your villain justice. Ask yourself questions about why the villain follows an evil path and why he has targeted the PCs. Cliched villains will get old fast. Instead, put a unique twist on your villain. The more aspects of his personality and past that you flesh out, the more likely you are to avoid a cliché and to build a unique, memorable opponent.

Villains needn’t pose a physical threat to the characters in order to be successful. Political and social threats can be just as dangerous as physical ones. A villain who manages to spread vile rumors about the PCs can turn allies against the characters. A classic example is the villain who frames the party for some crime. The party must now fight the villain while dodging the town guard and fellow heroes. A villain can use bribery or blackmail to manipulate rulers into banishing the characters or placing a price on their heads. In short, while DMing a game think like a villain. If you see an opportunity for a villain to make life hard on the characters, go for it. Don’t let your villains’ influence begin and end with combat. Money and social contacts can get a villain a lot farther than a strong sword arm.

There are several different types of villains, each of which has a unique relationship with the characters and different ways to make the characters miserable. It is impossible to record every type of villain imaginable, but here are a few types that often appear in fantasy literature.

The Rival: This "villain" is the characters’ competitor. She is roughly the same level and alignment as the characters and has the same goals in life. At every turn, the rival seeks to best the characters. Even though this conflict may rarely come to violence the social scheming and competition will be no less intense. The party’s rival may beat them to a treasure, receive a great honor from the local government, or earn a better reputation than the party.

There are a few different situations in which a rival can oppose the PCs. The most obvious one pits the rival against the PCs as a competitor. Both the PCs and the rival may seek the same goal, such as an artifact or other treasure, which only one or the other can achieve. The goal doesn’t have to be a material object. Just as villains can use social and economic resources against the PCs, so too can a rival compete with them for fame and prestige. If the PCs slay a giant, their rival defeats a dragon. When the PCs build a keep for a local village, the rival constructs a castle around it. The rival should spur the PCs on to greater deeds of glory. Don’t over do it. If the rival is doing much better than the PCs, your players will feel like secondary characters in your game. Give the players a chance to prove the mettle of their characters. If they succeed let them have the joy of putting their rival in her place. If they fail, perhaps their rival shows up to save the day, a humiliating defeat to say the least.

Example: Evelyn Firelight has spent almost her entire life protecting the small town of Thorn’s Vale. She and her adventuring companions have time and again held the forces of evil in check. Over the years, she has begun to think of Thorn’s Vale as her personal stomping grounds. Should a wet behind the ears band of adventurers show up, she’ll lend them whatever aid she can, as long as they don’t get in her way. Unfortunately, she has gotten somewhat sensitive about her age. Should younger heroes start to outshine her, it will become her personal mission to prove to the world and, more importantly, to herself that she can keep up with the youngsters.

The Nemesis: This type of villain is potentially the physically weakest, yet may prove to be the most dangerous type faced by the characters. The nemesis never directly challenges the PCs. Instead, he uses his economic and political muscle against them. The nemesis works behind the scenes to make life difficult for the characters. Behind every threat, behind every foe, his influence lurks. The nemesis can turn nobles against the players, coerce merchants into charging them high prices, and ruin their reputations with rumors and lies. The nemesis gives the party a long-term goal and brings cohesion to a campaign. As your campaign progresses, the party will come closer and closer to confronting their nemesis as they defeat his followers and uncover his plans. The nemesis also provides a handy motivation for many of the party’s foes. Keep in mind that a nemesis does not have to be a magically or physically powerful figure. A wealthy, influential merchant who sets out to destroy the party may not prove much of a match in combat, but his political and economic resources can give the party headaches. Should the party confront him, they had best hope their evidence holds up in a court of law. In this case, killing their nemesis makes the party outlaws.

Example: Randy Baraboras is everyone’s favorite innkeeper. He regularly provides food and shelter to the downtrodden, and if there’s anything around town that needs doing Randy is always the first to offer his help. The local militiamen know that they can always count on Randy for a free tankard of ale or two, and most of the local politicians have used his inn for some of their more clandestine dealings. What nobody knows is that Randy is actually a wererat. Randy is careful not to arouse any suspicion, as he realizes that his position in town can quickly become precarious. He relies on his trustworthy reputation to ostracize and drive away adventurers that begin to fare too well against the forces of evil. When that doesn’t work, Randy isn’t above subtle hints of blackmail to get the local leaders to see his point of view.

The Avenger: The avenging villain can be almost any of the villain archetypes mentioned above. What makes her unique is that the PCs, through their own actions, have caused the villain to oppose them. An NPC met in a previous adventure, especially one that was weak at the time the party met her, comes back into the party’s lives to wreak vengeance against the characters. It is important to convey the depth of the villain’s hatred for the characters. The villain’s effect is ruined if the PCs don’t realize whom she is until after they have fought her. The best way to handle this is introduce the villain into the campaign, allow her reputation to grow over time, and then let the PCs know that their actions created her. Not only will they have a villain to deal with, but the PCs may feel guilt over the problems they have indirectly helped cause.

A truly difficult challenge for the PCs is to create a case of mistaken identity. Perhaps one of the characters looks just like the man who murdered a heroic ranger’s sister. Not only will the characters face the daunting task of dodging a dedicated foe, but they’ll have to find some way to exonerate themselves if they want to avoid destroying someone who should be an ally.

Example: Perhaps early in their careers the PCs destroyed an orc tribe. What the characters didn’t know is that they didn’t catch every member of the tribe. Brallak Hooktooth is a cunning half-orc assassin who was away on a mission when the characters struck his tribe. Piecing together the available clues, he has sworn to track down and murder the characters one by one.

Villains in the Campaign

Villains, like characters, should change over the course of the campaign. As a villain’s power and prestige increases, his relationship with the characters will grow and change. The PCs and the villain can develop a sort of rivalry as each works to thwart the other’s plans. The villain may no longer desire power or wealth but may simply seek to destroy those who have foiled so many of his plans. As the villain and the PCs come into contact, their conflict should become much more personal. The villain may target the PCs’ friends and family, perhaps kidnapping a husband, wife, or parent. The relationship between the villain and the PCs will become deeper and more compelling as both sides find new reasons to oppose the other.

Obviously, you’ll need to make your villains grow in power as the party becomes stronger or they won’t pose any threat to the characters. Other changes will make your villains come to life much more than simple level increases. Villains will change just as the players do. Give them new equipment and spells to surprise the players. Perhaps two villains join forces against the party, or maybe the villain retires and lets an assistant take over his operation. The most interesting thing you can do is to force the party to work with a villain. Perhaps some powerful being from the outer planes shows up in the area, forcing the party and the villain to either fight together or die alone. Villains should also gain prestige and influence amongst the followers of evil. An evil priest who once commanded a gang of kobolds may now have a clan of fire giants at his beck and call. Just as the PCs will attract sponsors and benefactors with their heroic deeds so too will villains attract the backing of evil gods and malevolent societies.

A villain’s motives should also change over time. It might be entertaining to foil a villain’s plot to destroy a town the first few times, but if the poor evil doer keeps trying and failing over and over again your game may devolve into a parody. Remember, if your villain doesn’t appear powerful your players will not take him seriously. To get around this problem without letting the villain walk all over the PCs it is a good idea to let the villain’s motives change and grow to suit the campaign. A villain who once wanted revenge against a dwarven clan may find himself short on money after his first attempts at vengeance are foiled. Now that he’s broke, the villain may begin hatching plans to raid treasure caravans or rise to seize control of a thieves’ guild. If a villain is always up to the same old schemes he will grow stale and boring fast. Change his motives and goals to suit what has happened to the villain in your campaign.

However you do it, the villain should change and grow along with your players. Your villain should not exist in a bubble. The best part of a campaign is watching how your world, including its villains, grows and changes over time.

Villains are the game master's player characters. Just as a player spends time creating his character’s background, choosing his skills, and buying his equipment, the DM needs to put just as much effort into bringing his villains to life. Villains can provide boundless danger and adventure for the PCs. Isn’t that what fantasy games are all about?