[UA] The Villain Archetype (was: various topics)

[Stuart Anderson]

Matthew Rowan Norwood wrote:

> > I'd use the bad side of the Outsider or Rebel for a
> villain.  They can
> > cover an awful lot.
>
> Exactly what I was going to say. Rushdie is seen by some
> Islamic leaders as being a heretic and blasphemer --
> exactly the qualities of these two archetypes. The
> Marquis de Sade would be another great example of an
> Outsider or Rebel who draws his power from either the
> disgust and hatred he generates in his audience or from
> his blatant disregard for authority and convention.
> People like this tend to be classified by society as
> "villains", and they often revel in the role even though
> they don't necessarily see themselves as "evil" in a
> meaningful way.

    I like both of these ideas, but I also like the moral
quandary in the other example. Most players, if offered
superpowers in return for being evil, would decline. We've
all watched enough ABC After School Specials to know
something in that deal will bite you in the ass.
However--what would a PC do if the offer was superpowers in
return for being *perceived* as evil? Puts a spin on it. You
want to do some good, you could use some superpowers, you
just have to ostensibly embody the Great Satan. If the
character isn't Islamic, has a faulty of Islam, or
understands but doesn't respect Islam, The deal might look
pretty good. It would still have the ass-bite, though. In my
experience, the ass-bite is a fundamental and unavoidable
fact of life, so it shows up in my games. It would start
with a supercharged Islamic hit squad. In order to beat
them, the PC needs more superpowers, so he needs to be more
Greatly Satanic, so he needs to find new ways to embody
evil. Soon, he's going to run out of ways that he's
indifferent to, and yet, he'll still need the juice. All the
while, moving toward the dawning realization that embodying
evil isn't all it's cracked up to be. I think it's a neat
story.
    There's probably a UA way to do it without fuddling
around too much with the canon, but I have the luxury of
having already fuddled the canon in the service of a story
more than once, and players that generally trust me to make
it all work out in the end.
    If I wind up setting up the Christian hysteria
storyline, I might set up a Crowleyish Anti-Christ that
follows that pattern. In real life, Crowley really seems
like a Rebel or Outsider. But since the entire story is
about hysteria and overblown hooey, I think the tweak would
carry. And imagine the looks on the Christians faces when
they come to understand how this poor, deluded cat came to
embody their villain. Sympathy for the devil, indeed.
Casting doubts and aspersions on their model of the
universe. I don't think that's way out of place for UA.
_________________________________________________
--Stu
The Secret Lab
"He belonged to that particular race of men who
were their adversaries' greatest champions." Eco

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