                                Star Wars 

                           Wizard's RPG Stories

          source : http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/newsarchive
          upload : 10.IV.2006


     Only a Master of Evil

     By JD Wiker

     In the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, bad guys generally  fit  into  one  of
three categories: the rank-and-file villain (the  average  Imperial  officer),
the ultra-tough super-villain (such as Darth Vader  or  Darth  Maul),  or  the
plotting and scheming master villain (such as Darth Sidious or  Count  Dooku).
Of these three types, only the latter two are likely to live long enough to be
recurring villains. The super-villain survives because he's so tough that  the
heroes have no hope of taking him down until  they're  a  lot  closer  to  his
level, and the master villain always lives to fight another day because he has
a plan for getting out of every situation.

     Rank-and-file villains and super-villains are easy to  cook  up,  because
they don't require much thought to stat out, fit them  with  a  motivation  or
two, and turn them loose on the heroes. However, the master villain can  be  a
real headache to plan encounters for, because it boils down  to  a  battle  of
wits between the Gamemaster and the players, and  the  players  are  sometimes
more resourceful than the GM bargained for!  More  than  one  master  villain,
meant to survive until the end of the campaign, has fallen victim to  a  lucky
player attack roll or an unlucky saving throw. But  consider:  What  if  a  GM
could create a master villain that even the noblest of heroes didn't  want  to
attack?

     Villainy in the Making

     I used to  have  a  hard  time  portraying  villains  in  my  roleplaying
sessions. Oh, sure, I could play the run-of-the-mill,  rank-and-file  bad  guy
like there was no tomorrow; all I ever really had to vary  were  the  threats:
"Drop your weapons/the code cylinder/the remote, or I kill this old  woman/the
senator/your friend!" Even the high-level juggernaut was a cakewalk. He'd slap
the heroes around a bit and then leave them with a  casual  insult:  "I  don't
have time for this foolishness. Come back when you actually know  how  to  use
those weapons!"

     However, the subtle kinds of villains, the masterminds, were much harder.
In one of my campaigns, for example, I had  created  one  of  the  most  vile,
despicable, ruthless businessmen in the civilized world... and then  made  him
the heroes' occasional benefactor. He went out of his way to  facilitate,  and
sometimes bankroll, their business deals, showered them  with  gifts,  invited
them to his palatial estate for luxurious and expensive dinners, and generally
made himself available whenever they needed him. The  heroes  always  wondered
when their "bill" would come due, but they never found out  about  this  guy's
secret life-the business rivals he had bankrupted and then sold  into  slavery
(along with their entire  families),  the  assassins  he  had  hired,  or  the
innocent people he had  personally  murdered  in  order  to  appease  his  own
depraved master. He presented them with an innocent facade, and they were  all
too happy not to look too hard beyond it. If he was a  threat  to  them,  they
didn't want to know.

     When I realized that the heroes were deliberately  avoiding  finding  out
the truth about their evil benefactor, it dawned on me that, if  I  wanted  to
have a recurring master villain in my campaign, all I had to do was  make  him
such a nice guy that the players actually felt bad  about  voicing  suspicions
about him. To satisfy players who liked more physical confrontations, I  could
also have a powerful villain who would simply lurk in the campaign,  appearing
from time to time to threaten the heroes with bodily harm. Just because I  had
one type of villain didn't mean I couldn't have the other. After all, look  at
the combination of "thinker" and "doer" in Star Wars: the Emperor  and  Vader,
Sidious and Maul, and Dooku and Jango Fett.

     Villainy in the Campaign

     So, now that I've discussed the concept of the "villain hiding  in  plain
sight" in its broadest terms, how about some specific examples  to  plug  into
your own Star Wars campaigns? And how about some general tactics  for  keeping
them hidden?

     The Evil Patron

     One of the oldest and most easily spotted tricks in the Gamemaster's book
is the "secretly evil patron." This is the individual or organization that the
heroes work for, but that later proves to be the overall villain of the piece.
Wouldn't Count Dooku make a great patron for a group of Star  Wars  heroes  in
the Rise of the Empire era?  "The  Confederacy  of  Independent  Systems  must
defeat the Republic, for we have secret information that the Senate  is  under
the control of the Sith." This kind of evil mastermind makes for an  excellent
recurring villain, because the GM has to do very little work to make  sure  he
stays alive. The heroes won't act on  any  of  their  suspicions  about  their
patron until the evidence before them is nigh-incontrovertible.

     The drawback of an evil benefactor is that the  players-not  the  heroes,
but the players-may begin to suspect every benefactor you  present,  in  every
campaign that you run, in every system that you play, to have a secret agenda.
Consequently, their characters won't trust anyone who claims to want  to  help
them.

     Keeping the Evil Patron Hidden In all probability, the  heroes  work  for
the villain and just don't realize how wicked he is. To  keep  stringing  them
along, he has to give them assignments that seem morally unambiguous but  that
serve his own purposes, either in the short term, or better yet, in  the  long
term. Thus, the GM should  avoid  giving  the  heroes  missions  that  involve
investigation, and instead focus on combat-oriented missions. The  heroes  are
less likely to learn they're fighting for the wrong side if they  shoot  first
and ask questions later.

     If the heroes question their orders, the evil patron should  be  prepared
with corroborating  data  (falsified  evidence,  edited  testimonies,  and  so
forth). Even then, the patron should  express  surprise  and  disgust  if  the
heroes learn that the evidence was faked, and perhaps even send the heroes  to
eliminate the "provocateur" who engineered the deception.

     Finally, the evil patron should also have another agent working for  him-
someone even the heroes don't know about-to spy on the characters and  monitor
their trust in the patron, as well as to subtly lend aid when the heroes  need
it. Of course, the heroes should occasionally tangle with this mystery  agent,
who can be of the "super-villain" variety to ensure his staying power.

     The evil patron should have a nice high Bluff skill modifier, and a  good
Sense Motive wouldn't hurt, either.

     The Evil Advisor

     How to make this concept work, then,  is  to  turn  the  patron  into  an
advisor-someone with influence in local (or even galactic)  matters,  but  not
someone to whom the heroes are required to report directly. For example, let's
say that the heroes work for the Jedi Order during the Rise of the Empire era,
and for advice, they go to  Supreme  Chancellor  Palpatine.  By  some  strange
coincidence of fate, it turns out  that  Palpatine  is,  in  actuality,  Darth
Sidious himself! He could give them seemingly sound  advice,  but  instead  be
manipulating them to his own  ends,  or,  more  safely,  simply  be  gathering
information on their plans to pass on to his operatives,  the  very  opponents
the heroes are soon to face!

     Keeping the Evil Advisor Hidden The best part about the evil  advisor  is
that he can repeatedly stress that he's "as much in the dark"  as  the  heroes
when it comes to knowing what's really going on. Thus, if he  gives  them  bad
advice, he can pretend to feel just terrible about leading  them  astray,  and
even go so far as to  make  amends.  If  the  GM  plays  this  master  villain
correctly, the heroes might actually come to beg for his advice, with the evil
advisor feigning reluctance, "lest my counsel lead  to  more  innocents  being
harmed."

     The GM should plan  out  the  evil  advisor's  agenda  several  moves  in
advance, so that the heroes never quite catch on to the  consequences  of  his
advice. For example, their mission to pacify a  planet  of  Separatists  could
immediately result in the liberation of the loyalist faction there,  but  also
later make a great excuse for the advisor to arrange for a military base to be
built on the same site, thus ensuring that the planet's factories  can  easily
be retooled to provide weapons for the Republic. Of course, since  this  takes
place over the course of several missions, it's likely that the  heroes  never
think to go back and check on the progress of the provisional government  they
left in charge.

     The Outwardly Evil Opponent

     Somewhat less common is the ally disguised as an enemy. Such a  character
may do things that the heroes find objectionable, but his motives may be purer
than they seem. Consider Borsk Fey'lya, the Bothan diplomat who rose to become
Chief of State of the New Republic.  He  seemed  to  have  a  personal  grudge
against the Jedi, but ultimately, he was just a single-minded  politician  out
to champion his species and homeworld. This kind of  opponent  makes  a  great
match for the evil benefactor. With  someone  so  obviously  threatening,  the
heroes rarely think to look closer to home for the real villain.  In  fact,  a
good evil benefactor cultivates an outwardly evil opponent to pin the  heroes'
troubles on.

     The drawback of such a character is that the heroes may never find it  in
their hearts to trust him, no matter how often he helps them, and so  GMs  can
find themselves constantly playing out this character "negotiating"  with  the
heroes for their trust.

     Keeping the Outwardly Evil Opponent Hidden This kind  of  master  villain
works so well because, in his own mind, he's not a villain at  all.  For  that
matter, his own people might consider him a great hero! There's actually  very
little reason to hide that fact, though the GM could hint at "mind control" or
"secret executions" or whatever other propaganda it takes to get the heroes to
really hate this opponent. Even if the heroes do discover that  the  outwardly
evil opponent isn't such a bad guy after all, the  differences  between  their
ideologies and his should keep him from becoming an ally.

     The Evil Dupe

     Often the good can  be  deceived  into  performing  evil,  tricked  by  a
mastermind who wants to remain behind the scenes as  he  plays  his  opponents
against one another. No matter whether the dupe  defeats  the  heroes  or  the
heroes defeat the dupe, the bad  guy  has  one  less  enemy  to  face.  Anakin
Skywalker, subtly manipulated by Palpatine, is a classic dupe. It just remains
to be seen, in Episode III, how Palpatine's deception of  the  powerful  young
Jedi plays out. The best part about the dupe is that once the  heroes  realize
that he isn't the real villain, they probably try to talk with him rather than
fight, giving him a golden opportunity to land a few  solid  blows  before  it
occurs to him to wonder why they aren't fighting back.

     Unfortunately, the evil dupe is usually good for only a single adventure,
because, by the end of it, he probably knows that he's been deceived and used.
He might make a good recurring character, but his days of villainy are  almost
certainly over. Fortunately for the evil mastermind, there are more where that
one came from, so even if the dupe can't be a recurring villain,  the  endless
supply of dupes means that the GM doesn't need the dupe to  return  again  and
again.

     Keeping the Evil  Dupe  Hidden  In  many  ways,  the  evil  dupe  is  the
complement to the outwardly evil opponent. The dupe believes he's doing what's
right, but he's not really a mastermind; he's  more  like  the  super-villain,
though he needn't be that powerful. Still, since he's not likely to be  around
for long, it's not necessary to work too hard to keep  his  motives  a  secret
from the heroes.

     The Evil Pawn

     Evil being evil, loyalty to one's minions is  not  a  high  priority  for
masterminds. The pawn does the master's bidding and may even consider  himself
an indispensable member of the "team," but the mastermind is ever  aware  that
the pawn can be sacrificed, or even replaced, at any time. Darth Vader is most
clearly the Emperor's pawn by the time of Return of the Jedi, when the Emperor
makes it clear that Vader has outlived his usefulness, and that he'd prefer  a
younger, healthier apprentice.

     The evil pawn has two  great  advantages.  First,  he  can  serve  as  an
opponent who is initially far too tough for the heroes to tackle, making him a
great recurring villain. Second, the GM can eventually turn the evil pawn into
the heroes' ally, so long as they convince him to switch sides. Of course,  he
might not survive his former master's wrath, but redemption and sacrifice  are
two of the great themes in heroic fiction!

     Keeping the Evil Pawn Hidden  Like  the  evil  dupe,  the  evil  pawn  is
probably a super-villain rather than a master villain, though  even  a  master
villain can still be a pawn to another, even more  cunning  overlord.  The  GM
should keep hidden the details of what the master holds over  the  evil  pawn,
because that's the key to getting the pawn to change sides. Of  course,  since
the pawn rarely stops attacking the heroes long enough for them to  get  in  a
little psychoanalysis, his secret's probably safe. Still, as with Darth  Vader
in the original Star Wars trilogy, the information  can  come  out  in  little
bits, so that the story has moved along a great deal before the heroes have  a
chance to act on all the facts at  their  disposal.  Furthermore,  the  heroes
still might have to get the evil pawn on the ropes before he listens to  them-
as Luke Skywalker did with Vader in the Emperor's throne room.

     Villainy Is Everywhere

     Even if your campaign is already in full swing, there's nothing  stopping
you from  changing  the  villain  roster  a  bit.  Take  that  combat-oriented
recurring villain you had planned for the rest of the campaign  and  turn  him
into a super-villain, a challenge the heroes can't surmount until  much  later
in the campaign. Then pick someone the heroes have previously  consulted  with
for advice, and turn him into your own "phantom menace." You don't  even  need
to change the campaign history to say that he  was  evil  all  along;  a  Sith
artifact suddenly falling into his hands can do the trick.

     Better yet, while the advisor is still one of the good guys, have him ask
the heroes to undertake a mission for him, and let them be the ones who  bring
back the artifact that turns him evil! Arrange for them to give it to him  for
safekeeping, and when they later ask what he did with it, you can always quote
another great Lucasfilm movie: "It's being studied by top men."