Roleplay Tips & Tricks: How To Be The Bad Guy!

[Mauricius-wyrmrest-accord]

So you want to be a villain huh? Cause a bit of mayhem, destroy some civilian property maybe burn a few villages?
We’ll you’ve come to the wrong person! Hey there I’m Maurice Cain with a Z in the middle and I am here with another Roleplay Tips and Tricks for the Vets, The Noobs and The Shy to bring more rp to not only Wyrmrest Accord but to WoW in general. This week we’ll be going over on some tips I think that could make you a great villain! If you have your own little tips I implore you to share in the thread below and see if we can help out some newbies! Lets go!

• Know The Villain You Are! - What this means is, if you want to be a villain, number one is to always know the bad guy you are. Bad guys come in all different shapes in sizes Literally sometimes And figuring out the one you wanna be and the story line you want to set up can be difficult and require a bit of research on your end. Because while most people see a villain and go “Hey they are apart of a guild known for evil actions, kill on sight.” having a villain that could be protected by the law of the governing city is useful so when making your villian make sure you have a reason to burning down that hut besides the neighbors Kodo stomping your flower garden out.

• Don’t Reveal Too Much- Do not reveal your master plan Day one to some random man or woman who ask you why you are the way you are! Just Don’t Thats a insta kill waiting to happen and trust me people will do it still so its best to be patient and come up with plans to mask your true intentions. Had to kill that paladin who was injured and on the floor? Say he was possessed and couldn’t help himself from the demons call so you axed that sucker like a logger in the forest to save everyone! Your not a hero but you aren’t a villain at the same time, just a bit grim dark.

• Your Actions and Consequences- So taking from the example above lets talk about actions and consequences, everything you do Especially if ooc people know your a villian is being watched 24/7 you won’t even get a drink break without someone eyeing you down constantly so best you remembed what you’ve done to people and how it affected everyone around you or those who seen ya do it.

((Little note: If you see someone being evil or killing someone unjustly it’s still murder, do not pull favorite because the person is in your guild or a buddy of yours. Thats what separates a good rper from a possible God Modder with back up))

• Be Firm In Your Resolve - This tip cuts into the very first tip of knowing the villain you are. It doesn’t matter the race or gender, evil is evil but you got to really know why you are evil. Why you do the things you do and be firm when challenged about your actions. Some good examples of this I actually love to reference are Killmonger from the Black Panther Movie, Zenos from Final Fantasy 14 and finally any army from Warhammer 40k. Except maybe the Salamander units Their kind bois

But that’s my short Tips and Tricks on being villain ! If you have your own idea or thoughts on being a bad guy I hope you’ll share them below or even make a thread yourself on a certain kind of DEBAUCHRY you yourself partake in! Until next time I’m Maurice Cain with Z in the middle and stay evil <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfYnvDL0Qcw

[Auhgag-wyrmrest-accord]

Playing a good villain can be tricky, especially if you’re attached to the character. This is a great guide, thanks for posting it!

[Temu-wyrmrest-accord]

I think the greatest difficulty in playing a villain would be accepting the feedback and advice of those you’re playing with. It’s really a role that’s you can’t define yourself. You need the support, understanding and acceptance of the people or community you’re engaging to make the character work. I think it takes way more planning, communication and foresight than a typical character.

[Adracith-wyrmrest-accord]

Ooo! Adding onto this as Adracith was once a pretty nasty villain at one point!

Remember, villains can still make friends and influence people! Villains can still be extremely well liked by their peers. It’s an insidious way to be a villain to boot, hiding behind guile and charisma to mask their true intentions.

• ALWAYS ASK FOR CONSENT FOR YOUR VILLAINY - Huge if your villainy has character-breaking consequences for another player. Take a screenshot of the consent offered. Put the terms of the villainy OOC down so no one is confused or hurt. Make sure both parties understand what’s up. Dastardly deeds can always be retconned if the other player ain’t feeling it!

• Leave enough clues to be caught, but never be caught easily - Let people be the good guys! It’s so hard to find a villain, especially a recurring one, that the genuinely interested people who wanna bring your character down will flock in droves! Plot with these people! Involve some guilds in your shenanigans! Make events! Coordinate! It clues in more people to the fun and doesn’t give you that ‘brooding edgelord’ motif.

• Be scary - No one wants a mustache-twirling villain cackling at He-Man. Abduct someone. Warp their perception of who they are. Ensnare their minds to your will. Leave grizzly reminders to those that would try to stop you what exactly that means. It could be anything from a brutal slaughter of your enemies, to seeing a Benevolent Lord’s mine be completely overrun with gnolls and the undead to the point it is no longer solvent financially and said Lord is -ruined-. The political villain can be just as haunting as the monster.

• Redemption? - Yes! Your character can find redemption, and boo those that say they cannot! Adracith was never caught in her misdeeds. She got bored of what she did (I’ll let you all stew on her villainy here). With the Shadowlands expansion, she decided to once again fight for Azeroth… If only to taste those juicy covenant powers~

[Wenzli-wyrmrest-accord]

It’s hard to be a good, or even remotely functional villain when villainy in a roleplay setting requires a LOT of work. The sort of work that doesn’t offer much reward unless you get a good collective of friends / guildies / willing participants for your themes.

You can still be an individual, make friends, do work, be a functional member of the Horde / Alliance. But where the villain RP comes in demands so much of the following:

1. Player Consent - This is to assure that your targetted actions are not taken OOCly or maliciously.
2. Adaptability - You need to be ready to accept that you just may never win or may get dogged on by the masses. This isn’t some moral quote about villainous characters. But rather some players just refuse to lose or be one up’d.
3. Timing - Big cue for this is that attacking someone out in the open is gonna get you swarmed with vigilantees and peacekeepers. IF you’re verbally berrating another character; you may find people eager to stand up for your target or they feel personally targetted. – Pick your fights where you can handle it. Not where the masses will jump you.
4. Make friends > Interact with strangers. – It sounds rude, even extremely exclusive. But you’re going to have a world of better luck making a more consistent group of people who’ll entertain the story or themes of villainy you propose forward. Random RP villainy always backfires, whether intentionally or not. And unless there’s a form of consistency; people will assume the worst of you.

I sound like a major Debbie Downer, but I’ve a wary approach to Villain roleplay from personal experience and often seeing how others try to approach it. You need to be cautious when interacting with Random people on an OOC approach, unless you leave all villain themes behind for a more casual setting.

[Kunbo-wyrmrest-accord (Kunbo)]

Personally, I’d say what’s needed is not just consent but negotiation. Think of it as requiring the same quality OOC preparation as well-played romance RP. There’s still plenty of room for improvisation and unexpected turns in the narrative when everyone involved agrees with the general trajectory and healthy boundaries.

“Everyone” includes key by-standers.

To give a practical example:

If someone came to the teahouse, let me know privately that there’s going to be some villainy, and i’ve privately confirmed the consent of all those directly involved, then I’m agreeable to having something happen - as long as the villain and those involved also respect our OOC boundaries as well. For my part, I’d let the villain’s player know in advance what the likely response from myself & other guests will be, in a general way. If there’s a consensus then let the games begin. OTOH, walk in unexpectedly, ignore what’s going on already, cause a ruckus, try to drag everyone there into your personal RP without a heads-up: that’s going to be seen as disruptive, and probably reportable if it continues after it’s made clear it’s time to go.

Of course playing a villain well is hard work. But so is playing any non-cookie-cutter character type well.

[Jaztina-wyrmrest-accord]

On the flipside, I’d offer some advice to people interacting with villains as someone who’s RPed a few before (One of whom lasted for 2 years as a recurring villain in a few SWTOR guild plots):

• As much as you want to kill the villain, the quicker you kill them the faster the RP finishes. Don’t be mad if the villain escapes as long as it’s not completely unreasonable. A smoke bomb getaway or a timely avalanche can prolong an ongoing plot.

• If the villain character player has accepted they will likely die by the end of their story, it would be common courtesy to accept that interacting with them may lead to your character sustaining great injury (and bonus points if you’re willing to risk your characters life as well) A villain who can’t hurt anyone isn’t a scary villain.

• Be afraid/concerned. I get it, everyone wants to be a big brave hero, but being a hero doesn’t mean not being scared. You see the look on Legolas’ face when he saw the cave troll? Heck Frodo was scared half the entire trilogy. Damn near pooped his pants. If no one bats an eye at a gruesome display and white knight charges in then it’s pretty demoralizing for the person setting it all up to try and make a tense atmosphere.

• It isn’t you VS them. It’s you WITH them. Now while IC you may be bitter enemies, most (keyword here, MOST) people who RP villains are happy to provide their character as the antagonist of a character arc if you ask nicely OOC. Heck, for me personally one of my highlights in all of RP when I was playing SWTOR was kidnapping a handful of Padawans on my Darth character, attempting to convert them and then facing off with the Padawans guild when they came to rescue them. I ended up being a recurring enemy for that guild for about a year! IC we disliked each other but OOC everyone was chill!

• Have fun. If it’s not fun for you, don’t get involved. And don’t try and poopoo on people who are having fun.

[Neekomochi-earthen-ring]

I like this information thank you for the post! :o I’ve been wanting to try doing RP… Just scary for a new person.

[Laselk-wyrmrest-accord]

I prefer the term “morally-challenged / occasionally amicable”

[Iustina-moon-guard]

easiest tip to play a bad guy

play a paladin

[Kunbo-wyrmrest-accord (Kunbo)]

@Laselk-wyrmrest-accord

I prefer the term “morally-challenged / occasionally amicable”

I agree - that perspective works for creating many types of villainous characters. There are other types as well.

There’s a saying that one mark of a good person is that they often doubt themselves, while an evil person is absolutely convinced they’re right. An obvious example is Sylvanas. Some might propose that Tyrande is of the same ilk, even if to a different degree. The evil mad scientist is another such trope. OTOH there are groups where “honor among thieves” is a major part of the community. Robin Hood would fit that trope.

So another way to play a black hat character is as someone whose morality is different from that of the community they are part of. Then there’d be a lot of leeway to cooperate at times, but still act as a baddy. To give a couple of examples specific to WoW player characters: I’m aware of at least a couple of Pandaren who think that being sha-possessed is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and another that would love to see the Mogu back on the throne since it would - to their way of thinking - make Pandaria an equal power on the world stage.

[Anartheril-wyrmrest-accord]

You don’t always need to quite identify character, with morality, in order to function as villain.
Sometimes, being villain means being not fully aware of consequential damage, in the big picture. Or lack foresight, to see results, in the far away time.

One way, is to be those who hold onto something, too extremely. Such will eventually cause damage, on everyone else.

_ City guardians, who want to preserve the lives and wealth of village, that were frequently attacked by countless wars and bandits, at all cost – eventually form pact with “high-risk, high-return” kind of magic. Gain inhuman combat powers, and succeed their tasks. But they themselves became twisted, over years, to the point of turning to drink blood of their villagers.

_ Forsaken medics who decide to experiment on pieces of hundreds of Alliance soldiers and villagers, dead&alive. And thousands more cute wolves. But ended up with cure, that could render hazardous illness, permanently minor threat. But he needs more pieces, still.

_ Anartheril decided to manage opening of unpermitted dimensional gate, at bottom of a large freshwater lake, in an innocent Alteract hill village, to link with another gate in cliff, over another clueless Orc village’s farm – as experiment to counter severe drought by arcane. Forcing one village to change occupation, from grain farming to frog farming, to survive, because of one meter flood. And another village, fled to other cities, due local water short-supply.

The fun part of this type of villain, is, you can recruits many others to join you, at start of scheme – as no one see full reality, yet. Then, witness everyone going “I’m bloody surprised! We are the evil ones, in this?!?”