The BlackHammer CyberPunk Project


The Perfect Villain

Article by Wild Bill (bill_haworth@hotmail.com)

Okay, this is what I consider the perfect villain for CP2020 games/scenarios/campaigns. Others think their villains are better, more ruthless, and more thought out. I'm not here to argue with them, or you, but I am here to share what I consider a very good idea for the main villain of a CP2020 campaign.

Need a driving force for your characters, Refs? Need that all-encompassing bad guy that just won't effing die? Do what I did: steal from the movies! Everyone has seen "The Usual Suspects", right? Okay, you beat me to it, Kaiser Tsoce is my choice for the perfect villain, but with several twists that you can mix and match inside the campaign as you run it.

Villainous CorpZonerWho is Kaiser Tsoce? Is he an AI, a group of powerful businessmen, one guy, a woman, or all the major crime syndicates banding together? What do you want him/her/it/them to be? It's your choice, and you don't have to settle on just one answer. In fact, the more you change your version of Kaiser, the more fun to be had. This can provide great amounts of suspense for your players, as they'll never know where your villain is going next, or even who your villain is at any given time! The situations you can create with this are endless.

Let them capture "Kaiser", only to reveal that it's some crazy the real Kaiser has braindanced to believe he is Kaiser. Keep changing tactics on 'em, keep letting out rumors that Kaiser has been seen, Kaiser is operating out of this or that city, Kaiser is finally dead, no, wait, she's alive! Careful, though, don't let Kaiser become the focus of your campaign, let Kaiser be the driving force, the sneaky bastard behind all the goings on. And you're not restricted to using Kaiser as solely a villain, have Kaiser hire the team, or individuals out of it, for legit edgeruns and the occasional "raw deal" (you know, that edgerun that turns out to be a trap?).

Also, you don't have to name Kaiser, well, Kaiser. You can assign any name you wish to your mastermind/AI/evil syndicate/high-powered gang bangers. In fact, changing the name of your evil villain every other rumor/game is half the fun. Let rumours circulate that Saburo Arasaka is Kaiser, and watch 'em panic trying to figure out how to counteract a very powerful corp like Arasaka. Then, after they've done something dumb like pissing off Arasaka and its shareholders, let 'em get ahold of a datafile that points to some other group/person.

Finally, what makes your version of Kaiser the perfect villain? CP2020 edgeruns are easy to generate (okay, depending on how detailed you make your setup, easier than most rpgs, in my opinion) but what binds them together can sometimes escape us poor shmucks stuck with the Ref's job. Let Kaiser be your bridge between series of 'runs, give your players clues at the end of the series that points to Kaiser, taking them naturally into your next series where they pick up the trail again, just in time for Kaiser to fade once again into obscurity. Or stay in the limelight, let Kaiser be the series until you dig something else out for the players to chew on.

Remember, the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. Have fun, Refs, and remember, the players aren't your enemies, they are the inhabitants in your little universe, and you are a vengeful god.


article submitted to the BlackHammer Project by Will Bill Haworth and HTML-ized by Hound