Re: The Unholy Trio: Rephrasing the Question

From: Todd Gardiner <todd.gardiner_at_svtT9x6Xp20b_HqLiV_FMGwpARlhAXzI92XKAlH3_05evC8r43vxfJkYuhvBs7>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:20:55 -0800


Fleshing out the bad guys: certainly a good idea. But turning the bad guys into the protagonists is something that is very, very rarely done. Even in those cases in which the bad guy is witnessed by the reader engaging in an atrocity, the reader is not asked to follow the villain through every act that sets them against society.
Instead of seeking sources in Glorantha myth (which apparently do not exist for you), you should turn to those few pieces of literature in which the villain is the main focus of the story.

Perfume. [Book and movie]
The Pearl Necklace (also known as Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street) and other penny dreadfuls. [Book(s) and movie] The Talented Mr. Ripley [Book and movie]

Although it is going to be really hard to find a story in which the character refutes society altogether. I can't think of a source in which the villain-as-protagonist does not still want to be connected to people and thought of positively. Apparently the extreme madness case in which the villain does not care if he is blamed for the atrocities that he commits are unwritable or unreadable. Even slasher movies follow the victims as protagonists, not the killer.

--Todd Gardiner

On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 2:28 PM, pentallion <pentallion_at_LjcyRqxmTNPTMNlgZWBnJq_5cIAvduvpk_YlTMxx2OWe6MaXLvh9ZJGZbpycmNuuj_BRnG9ixVfo_O8HUg.yahoo.invalid> wrote:

> Not a problem. I wasn't thinking of asking for approval to publish
> adventures about being the bad guys. It's just a campaign for my
> group. However, the God Learner and what he wants to do makes for
> an excellent villain and if you're ever interested in hearing my
> ideas on using him in a campaign, I'd be happy to start another
> thread on the idea. IMO, villains should be very fleshed out, not
> just cardboard bad guys. Something they drill into you in
> professional writing courses. I think you'd like this bad guy.
>

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