#Forms of the Villain Campaign

Contents

A villain campaign is not a single genre. It becomes something entirely different depending on who holds the mirror.

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#Opening Fragment — Three Seats

The GM set three stones on the map.

The black stone was taken by the fiend PCs. The red stone was the home base of the hero NPCs. The white stone was placed over a village that was not yet on either side.

"If it is the first form," the GM said, "you are the black stone. I move the red stone."

"And if it is the second form?" a player asked.

The GM placed one black stone and one red stone in the same zone. "Within one party, there is a different answer."

"And the third?"

The GM turned the black stone and the red stone to face each other. "Then agreement matters more than victory or defeat. Both are seats where a person sits."

The white stone never moved to the end. Everyone looked at that village. Whatever the form, in the end someone had to pass through it.

#Form A: All-Villain PCs

Every PC is a villain or a figure leaning toward the way of evil. The GM takes the hero NPCs, the harmed community, the rival villains, and the reaction of the world.

Fitting questions:

• When the villains hold different dark sides, can they keep the same faction.
• Where does the cause of changing the world turn into self-interest.
• Can the hero NPCs stop the villain PCs.

Cautions:

• If the victory goal becomes simple destruction, it grows shallow fast.
• Agreement is needed so that inner conflict does not spill into conflict between players.
• Decide what is left at the end of the campaign.

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#Form B: Mixed Party

A villain PC and a hero PC are in the same party. A common enemy, a greater threat, an old promise, blood ties, or a bargain binds them together.

Fitting questions:

• For the same goal, how far can different methods be allowed.
• Does the hero PC try to save the villain PC, to use them, or to watch them.
• Does the villain PC see the hero PC as a weakness, or as a last thread.

Cautions:

• If the hero PC only keeps yielding, the hero role disappears.
• If the villain PC keeps stealing the scenes, the party falls apart.
• The reason the party holds together must be confirmed each session.

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#Form C: Adversarial Play

It divides into two sides, one of heroes and one of villains. This form is the strongest, but calls for the most care.

Fitting questions:

• How do two factions change the same region in different ways.
• What traces do the information war and negotiation leave before combat.
• In the final confrontation, what choice matters more than victory or defeat.

Cautions:

• Use it only when trust between players is sufficient.
• A dispute over the rules easily becomes a dispute of feelings.
• Hide secret information only enough to create fun.

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#Form D: Corruption Campaign

It begins as a hero or neutral party, but over a long campaign some or all may lean toward the dark side.

Fitting questions:

• Does the method used to win become the cause of the next crisis.
• Does the PC's conviction come to mean something slightly different each session.
• Is there still a name and a person they can return to.

Cautions:

• The GM does not declare corruption unilaterally.
• The player must be able to speak of the change in their own character.
• Whether to close or open the possibility of return is agreed in advance.

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#Form E: Running a Villain Faction

The PCs run a faction such as a cult, a mercenary company, a bandit league, a forbidden research society, a black market, or an onryo cult. For the detailed numbers, refer to the existing faction, domain, and cult rules in co; this volume creates no new action table.

Fitting questions:

• As the faction grows, how does the PC's original goal degrade.
• Do the followers believe the PC, fear them, or use them.
• Do the heroes try to dismantle the faction, to negotiate with it, or to split it from within.

Cautions:

• If running the faction leaves only a ledger, the dark side grows weak.
• Followers too must have a face and a name.
• The price of victory must remain between the map and the people, together.

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#Form Selection Table

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The form of a dark-side campaign is closer to seating than to a map — who can see whom changes everything.