I finally got around to picking up Shadow of Mordor a little while back and put in some time with the game. The game’s plot is a rather generic revenge story – the protagonist was cursed to undeath after a ritual merged his physical form with that of a wraith, granting him abilities beyond that of mortal men. The combat is fast and responsive, reminding me of a marriage of a more polished Assassin’s Creed title and Rocksteady’s Arkham titles. The ability to go anywhere and tackle mission parameters in various ways is also very nice. However, the real star of the game is one of the engines that runs in the background.
The Nemesis Engine was probably the most ambitious announcement from this game and was the part that really piqued my interest. The game has you fighting your way through Sauron’s army of Orcs and Uruks in order to draw out their leaders, the ones responsible for your current state and for the death of your family. There are a number of captains within the ranks of the army that you must defeat in battle in order to draw the attention of the more powerful warchiefs, and so on and so forth. These captains are all individual characters with their own names and personalities.They have weaknesses that you can try to exploit. They have things that make them angry and harder to take down. Some of them are deeply entrenched in fortresses. Some make camps in the fields of Mordor. Nearly all of them are embroiled in chaotic power struggles with each other. And they all evolve as you encounter them. If you fail to kill them in your attack, not only will they get more powerful, making them harder to take down next time, but they will also remember how you fought them and change their tactics. If you favor your bow and arrow, they may wear armor rendering ranged attacks less effective or ineffective entirely. If you burned them with fire, they not only bear the burn scars, but they may also have a healthy fear of flammables. And if they defeated you last time? They remember that too. And they taunt you about how it’s going to be no different this time. Imagine trying to take out the same guy for the fourth time while he laughs in your face about gutting you like a carp. Tell me it’s not personal at that point. Tell me you don’t want to put your fist into that Orc Captain’s mouth and tear his tongue out yourself.
These are enemies that you can grow to hate.
Playing the game has gotten me thinking about the way I use villains in my own tabletop games. Sure they have their own motives and goals and ways to get there, but once I have decided that, they often become static characters. It’s not that I’m afraid to let them evolve, I just tend to get caught up in every other part of running the game that I forget to do that. They can and should grow, and not just mechanically. Here’s just a sampling of some small things that I’ve learned from playing Shadow of Mordor that are easy lessons to carry over into your villain design for your roleplaying games.
Basic is Better
This one sounds counter-intuitive at first, but stay with me. Don’t get caught up in the minor details of creating the villain or NPC. This is a lesson that I was reminded of again re-reading John Wick’s Houses of the Blooded, which I reviewed two weeks ago. When you create your villain, give him a very basic character structure. Name some things that are true about him. And then let your players figure out the rest through play. This does several things for you. It prevents the problem of having your villains loaded with important details that will never see the light of day because the PCs aren’t keen on exploring it. It also allows you to introduce things that are pertinent to that particular game that may not have been had you done all of that work up front. This also allows you to change things about the villain more easily if the PCs throw a curve ball at you and go off the story rails. Not that that ever happens, right?
*stares at months of tear stained notes made useless by the PCs actions*
Anywho, I would strongly consider using the same method you have your players use to create their characters for your NPCs. And that of course should be [GM] Chris Witt’s Questions Three. If you’re not using it yet, it must be because this is your first time hearing about it. These are three simple questions that answer so much about your character. He has written at length about it numerous places and so I’m just going to do a quick encapsulation to save space and stop from retreading covered ground.
Number one. What does your character Love? What are they willing to sacrifice everything for?
Number two. What does your character Hate? This is something that they will go to any length to see expunged from existence.
And finally, number three. Why is your character doing what they are doing? If they’re working with a group, why? If they’re pursuing an agenda, why is it important to them?
You can hang a LOT of character development off of those three hooks. They’re simple questions, but they’re sturdy and can handle a lot of meaty development. From there simply give them the same mechanical drives as the PCs. If you’re playing Star Wars, give them a Duty or an Obligation. If you’re playing World of Darkness give them a Virtue and a Vice. Give them connections to the world and other NPCs in a game of Dungeons and Dragons. They aren’t going to use them in exactly the same ways as the PCs, but it does allow you a way to further nail down some general feeling about their character and personality. Use these things to make them more than just stats. Watch how they grow.
Never Stop Learning
Don’t be afraid to have your villains learn about the players and use it against them. If they favor a stealthy approach and fail at infiltrating the villain’s hideout, give him increased security next time. Maybe he’s gotten the chance to watch the party fight several battles and knows the fighter favors a certain fighting style that he can exploit. Don’t just let your villain advance mechanically with more skill ranks or spells learned – let him advance narratively as well.
Rise From Your Grave!
This is one of the things that I experienced early on in Shadow of Mordor. I was engaged in battle with a group of Orcs when a named enemy appears and locks blades with me. I recognize the name. Wait… didn’t I kill him about a half hour ago? Sure enough, he says something about me being surprised to see him. I was. But in my defense it was because I had separated his head completely from his body the last time I fought him.
This is something that has happened numerous times to any GM. You’ve made a villain that you’ve crafted to be the perfect foil for the party only to have him gunned down in the first round of combat. You’re stuck. The dominos that form your plot are now missing the first piece designed to make the rest of them fall. What do you do?
Don’t be afraid to let your villain survive.
Maybe he wasn’t killed after all and the PCs left him barely alive. Perhaps he was rescued and brought back to a semblance of life through cybernertic surgery if you’re playing a sci-fi game. Or maybe he’s simply resurrected in the case of fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons where restorative magic is a thing that exists.
Or maybe he doesn’t survive. Maybe you’re the kind of GM that just lets those things happen and move on. The PCs got lucky with their dice rolls – it happens. So he needs to survive in a more metaphysical sense. This is where the power of the first point we talked about comes in. You can give your ex-villain connections to other NPCs that will help to carry on his work and challenge the PCs in their own way. Perhaps he had a younger brother to carry on his legacy. Or he was friends with a ranking member of the slaving ring they were investigating. The PCs are also a known quantity to these new villains who can take the time to study them and learn about them. The PCs may think they cut the head off of a snake, but in reality they just snipped a head off a hydra.
Let’s be real for a second here – a properly motivated character is going to have contingency plans in place to make sure his work gets carried on in the event of his untimely demise. We see it all the time in business and politics. Things that need to outlive the individual have means to do so.
These are relatively simple things, but they are very easy to forget to put into practice as a GM. It feels counterintuitive at first not to have your villains and other major NPCs completely fleshed out, but when you let go of those reservations and let them evolve at the table along with the story and with the player, they stand a very good chance of becoming more real and more memorable than if you hadn’t. Give it a try and see how it works for you.
Ben Erickson
