5 Ways to Prolong the Dramatic Life of an NPC Villain

I find one of the trickiest GM challenges is to narrate an engaging and long-lasting villain. And the one thing that makes this tricky? When players know an NPC is evil, they often react with murder.

Here are some techniques for fending off the inevitable:

1. When they first meet the NPC, he could be far more powerful than they. They will need to level up substantially before they can take him on.
2. Put the characters in a situation in which it would be foolhardy to act out (e.g. surrounded by a large and menacing military force).
3. Create a condition around the NPC’s survival. If the characters kill him, their link home will instantly be destroyed.
4. Make the nature and/or aims of the NPC appear otherwise, or at least ambiguous. It’s always great to have the NPC earn the players’ trust only to betray it later.
5. Have the villain only appear to the players remotely (via radio, video, emissaries, etc.). Even when employing this method, I still think it serves the story best if the characters can meet the villain in person at least once.

Good luck. May all your villains be dramatic.