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Message no. 1
From: 00DNA <mcmanus@******.ALBANY.EDU>
Subject: Recurring villains (was: Re: New players and elves)
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 14:39:46 -0400
At 02:12 PM 9/18/98 -0400, Erik Jameson wrote:

>Which brings up another point, another question. How many folks have
>recurring villains in their games? It can be rather difficult to do right,
>to keep it fresh, to keep the NPC alive sometimes.

I do...it's a must for me...it brings so much more to the game.
In my first campaign, I had a great recurring NPC...I'd choose not to call
him a villain at this point, simply because he was a putz, but definately
an antagonist to the team.
He was a yak soldier, who basically robbed his oyabon to start his own,
umm, darn, can't remember the yakuza organization right now...his own
"group" of yaks.
So, the very first run that the team does, foils his plans. So, now he's
peeved at them. But they do win points with his former oyabon for giving
him info. So, they kind of forget about him...he starts getting a bit more
power and they bump into him again...this was a very short wrong place /
wrong time encounter...both the team and he were going after a bus station
locker. OK. Quick firefight, no one important dies, we move on. Now
however, he's really built up his yakuza soldiers and is taking over quite
a chunk of seattle. (he was a very progressive yakuza boy and though he
wasn't a great leader, he had great ideas and goals that people agreed
with). The campaign kind of slid from there, but he did end up showing up
in the last run. He set up one of the characters to pay him more for some
data than he was hired for. He fell for it and went to the meet...and
basically we never finished...one of my great disappointments in
life...there was a whole lotta lone star outside (the character was
wanted)...and we all just KNOW he wasn't going to drop his gun and
surrender...it would have been so sweet (he was driving us crazy...)
But...Ishito Haramato, made a great recurring NPC. He grew in strength at
the same time the team did so he was able to make those great escapes and
haunt them another time...

He wasn't the only one...but definately the most memorable and probably the
best I've played out...

--00DNA
<<Replication Terminated>>
Message no. 2
From: Drew Curtis <dcurtis@***.NET>
Subject: Re: Recurring villains (was: Re: New players and elves)
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 15:26:32 -0400
On Fri, 18 Sep 1998, 00DNA wrote:

> At 02:12 PM 9/18/98 -0400, Erik Jameson wrote:
>
> >Which brings up another point, another question. How many folks have
> >recurring villains in their games? It can be rather difficult to do right,
> >to keep it fresh, to keep the NPC alive sometimes.

I find recurring villains are scarier to players than non-recurring ones.
It's not necessary to keep them alive either. Here's what to do:

1) miraculous recovery. Anyone who reads comics knows villains constantly
cheat death
2) decendants pick up the torch. I used a CEO of a company as a villain
who's son picked up the mantle when the team killed pops.
3) you can kill the man but you can't kill the organization. If a corp
has a vendetta for someone, they may still have it after you kill off the
person in charge. Sometimes they're even more upset.

Drew Curtis, President, Digital Crescent, Incorporated
http://www.dcr.net (502) 226 3376 Internet and Software Design services.
Offering dial-up Access from Frankfort to Louisville and all points between.
Message no. 3
From: "M. Sean Martinez" <ElBandit@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Recurring villains (was: Re: New players and elves)
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 14:37:49 EDT
In a message dated 9/18/98 2:45:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time, it was said:

>Which brings up another point, another question. How many folks have
>recurring villains in their games? It can be rather difficult to do righ=
t,
>to keep it fresh, to keep the NPC alive sometimes.

In my current campaign (the one that has been going on for 5-6 years at th=
is
point) the team has seen several reoccuring villians.

Usually they will see the same villian at least twice, such as a particula=
r
Aztechnology Blood Mage that they thought they killed <g>

As for a regularly reoccuring villian, there is a team of rival shadowrunn=
ers
that kinda hate the fixer that the team works for. Occassionly ther team w=
ill
encounter their rivals who do their best to show up the player's team and
usually succedes. Once I even had the leader of the rival team offer the c=
at
shaman (the only really effective player in the group) a postion on the ri=
val
team if she would leave the fixer. She refused, mostly because the players
team are kinda being forced to work for the fixer.

The next time the rival team will show up in when the players will ahve to
make a run agianst a new Aztechnology threat in the module "Strange
Bedfellows". Both teams will have to work together if they want to live :)

I know some of you may want to know why the players work for a fixer that =
is
essenrtially black maiiling them into working for him or her. Baxck when I
started the campaign I knew players and thjeir characters were less than
reliable to show up, so I created ALEX. Alex sent each character a package=
,
which give them a passcard to a room in the seattle hilton, a certified
credstick with 5,000¥ on it and a special gift. The gift was usually a r=
are
and valuable item such as the first press of an anchient book or other suc=
h
collectors items. (For X-Mas one of the players got Jim Morrison's guitar)
There was also a print out of the character's life history, complete with =
all
the secrets that they did not want to get out. The players basically have =
to
work for ALEX or the wrong people will find them.

ALEX will only communicate to the team through a computer set up in the ro=
om,
which has led many of them to believe that they are working for a decker o=
r
AI. A few have tried to find out who he or she is only to hit a brick wall=
.

Strangely the realtionship is not quite what you think it might be. ALEX f=
inds
the team jobs, and they have to negotiate with the Johnsons for payment wh=
ich
ALEX takes nothing for. ALEX has even arranged to get one of the players o=
ut
of trouble, and that has made them wondwer about his/her motivations.

ALEX can also be used to craete that omnipotent "Q" character relationship=
.
Occassionly when the players are stumped on an assignment they can goto AL=
EX
for some help. He/She generally turns it into a game.

Eaxmple:

JYM: Alex, I have questions about why we are trying to find Laurie Sutton =
and
where she is, since the trail seems to have gone cold.
ALEX: Understood. Such information can not be given freely. How about a ga=
me?
You may ask 10 yes or no questions which a response will be given.
JYM: 10 Questions huh?
ALEX: Yes, you now have 9....

Strangely one module and primerunners worked in my favor. The team had jus=
t
tracked down a chimera agent (this was before Underworld and Primerunners)
that was using her abilities for personal vengence on a well off terriost =
that
killed her only child. One of the players said something to her about ALEX=
and
she responded

"You are fools playing the game of a child. Alex is nothing more than a 10
year old decker making you jump through hoops for his own amusement."

2 weeks later I got Primerunners and almost died when I saw the decker nam=
ed
Alex who was 10 years old.

In the campaign the players have come to respect ALEX and in some ways fea=
r
him or her since they are not sure what they are dealing with.

-Bandit

Further Reading

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