I’m changing some things up with the blog and looking at a variety of new and old ideas in gaming. I’d like to spend part of today talking about some recurring tropes and ideas that crop up in fantasy storytelling and how they can be used (and abused) in an RPG to some sort of effect. Today’s volume is a little different because we’re not going to be looking at a specific instance or idea of a plot trap, but a larger concept that is overarching throughout the fantasy RPG genre and beyond. There’s a conceit that runs through most of the RPGs published that their are default “Bad Guy” races that want nothing more to pillage and destroy or subvert the world to their own ends. It’s a very unsubtle way of looking at the world, and it’s overly simplistic. Let’s dive into a different way of looking at antagonists in fantasy role-playing (over several parts) and see if we can’t look at this in a more nuanced fashion.
Plot Point 11 The Antagonists (Part 1)
One of the most common early types of adventures that players encounter starts off sounding something like this, “Hey, adventurer people, there’s a group of kobolds/goblins/hobgoblins/orcs living near here and they’re threatening the livelihood of the town, (despite the fact they haven’t done anything), go handle them.” No one thinks twice about it, characters go smash the local humanoids and take their stuff.
Now, let’s turn this on it’s head and restate the original adventure request like this: “Hey adventurer people, there’s a group of halflings/gnomes/dwarves/elves/humans that have moved into the area and are threatening the town’s ways of life, go take care of them.” This plot hook requires a lot more explanation and convincing the characters to act on, because these groups aren’t typically the target of adventures. Why? Because they’re usually the good guys.
Fantasy RPGs have a blindspot when it comes to creating nuanced world because there’s a perception that some of the world’s inhabitants are inherently evil. These default “Bad Guys” are painted into the role of being aggressive, antagonistic creatures that seek to pillage the world or bend it to their will. In instances where the antagonists are not members of these bad guy groups, they’re seen as exceptions or have a background that justifies their moral shift.
- That “Evil” Warlord was raising troops to put down a threat he perceived to the throne in order to protect the country.
- The Elven Princess turned to dark and evil magic after her palace was destroyed by marauders
- The Dwarven Thane dug too deep into the earth and pulled a cursed gem that caused him to turn on his neighbors and drag the Dwarven clans to war with each other.
- The Orcs are here, they must be wanting to wreck stuff and take our money.
Which one of these seems out of place?
Which one seems like lazy storytelling?
Which one of these would you roll your eyes at if it was used as the opening explanation of a movie?
You can tell magnificent stories in fantasy RPGs that feature conflicts between good and evil. Magical battles on the backs of dragons, intense quests through burning deserts and frozen wastelands, even epic clashes between armies that will determine the fate of the world are part and parcel of the genre, but you can tell equally amazing stories by setting your filter to show the shades of grey instead of just the black and white.
Black and White =/= Shades of Grey
Motivations
Most groups of humanoids (this is looking at things in terms of culture, because the shared values that a specific group holds dearly will usually push past any specific species gaps) are looking for the same things. They are typically looking for safe spaces to live, enough resources for their community to grow, and freedom to pursue their ambitions without being bothered by anyone. Whether that group is a Dwarven Clan exploring a new mountain range or an Orc tribe migrating to better hunting grounds, these basic desires shape their view of the world and drive their actions. When one of these core motivators is threatened or put at risk, the group will take action to protect it. Some groups will move on, but others will be moved to confront the threat head on. This is where you can tell some very interesting stories about the clash of cultures between different groups.
Example 1: The Long Ride
On the plains of the Amber Sea, a large contingent of Orcs have appeared, moving quickly across the land. They are indifferent towards territorial claims held by the natives of this region and hunt freely across the plain. They take the few resources they desire and move on. The Horse Lords of the Amber Sea decide this will not stand and confront the Orcs on the field of battle. The Orcs are able to defeat the small contingent of the Horse Lords, but not before the Fey the were trying to escape from catch up with them.
Why were the Fey chasing the Orcs?
Why did the Orcs head towards the Horse Lords?
Whose fault is this entire conflict?
Perhaps the Orcs had no idea the Horse Lords laid claim to specific territories?
Perhaps the language barrier prevented both sides from communicating with each other?
Why do the Fey have a bee in their collective bonnets?
Who’s the good guy?
Is there a good guy?
These are interesting questions that you can wrap a plot around because you have taken off the default bad guy/good guy tags and you can explain the story as the characters encounter it.
Conflicts
When you take off the default good guy/bad guy tags for cultures, you open a lot of interesting storytelling options. From friendly rivalries between towns/villages/countries to extensive blood feuds, cultural groups can have a lot of problems getting along with each other. Dropping the tags means that you can have two groups fighting over something that they would, in other good guy/bad guy tagged universes, not fight over because of...reasons. Whether you Dwarves and Gnomes fighting over ownership of a mine or six different Orc Tribes fighting over ownership of a sacred site, conflict becomes an interesting component of your storytelling and adventure building.
Example #2: The Harkenflargen Mines
So, this is an interesting conflict between a clan of Dwarves and a community of Gnomes. Both lay claim to the Blackrock Hills and their surrounding areas. Recently, a rich vein of gems and other precious metals has been discovered in the interstitial area between the two territories they claim. Naturally, both groups claim complete ownership of the mines and neither is inclined to share the wealth because it would greatly improve the fortunes of both. Both groups are interfering in each others attempts to mine the region, and it’s going to come to blows soon.
This seed has a lot of potential for character involvement because both groups have legitimate claims on the resources in specific areas. More importantly, some of the resources lay in the unclaimed spaces between the two groups, and this can trigger an interesting resource rush as other groups try to lay claim to the gems and the precious metals. Does this story have to end in violence? Maybe, Maybe not, but it does sound like an interesting place to start a story arc or a campaign seed, doesn’t it?
Conglomerations
Even more interesting than the conflicts that emerge out of this world view are the amalgamations and communities you can put together when you drop the good guy/bad guy view of the world. Dwarves and Orcs living together in mountain strongholds. Goblins working side by side with Halflings running a mercantile trade center. If you remove the things that make these groups mortal enemies, you open up the mash up potentials to interesting interactions. Now, you might have to make a few more social changes within a group to make them less intentionally destructive, but if you were going to make these people part of the society of your world, you were going to do that anyway.
Example #3: The City of Dreams
At the edge of the civilized world is a city that accepts residents of all races, types and perspectives. The City of Dreams was founded by a Celestial creature that believed everything in creation had a place and something to contribute, and the doors to the city were opened to all. The City boasts an eclectic blend of populations and is rumored to be the one place in the world where you could find an expert on anything. The City only has one price to enter, an examination by the Prophet of the Celestial Wisdom, who studies the dreams of everyone living in the city.
Imagine a place like this existing in a fantasy game. You could meet literally anyone or anything walking the streets of this city, and you can find virtually anything. Exotic trade goods from a hundred different communities are sold in its markets and every culture has representation, if it wants it.
How to work through this Plot Trap?
This Plot Trap exists because it’s a holdover from older ideas in fiction and early RPGs. The best way to handle it is to throw out the idea that there are “Good Guy” races and “Bad Guy” races. I personally prefer the term Culture to refer to these different groups and you can have a lot of fun if you do the same. If you’re looking at world building for Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, i would strongly encourage you to shift the alignment of all of the humanoids in the setting to a version of Neutral. It makes sense for most groups to be a shade of neutral because most folks just want to get by without causing problems for other people. This echoes the advice i heard from one of the Wizards of the Coast folks and it makes sense.
Looking at the motivating factors of a Culture is important because it can help you decide what they are likely to do in relation to other groups and locations. If you know that this particular group of Orcs is looking to settle near one of their religious sites, then you can create interesting conflicts and interactions by deciding what else occupies that specific area. This can help you build conflicts and adventures that you can present to your characters.
Now, this doesn’t include situations where a personage (like a warlord or religious leader) has taken control of the group. That’s a situation where the group is often serving the needs of said leader (and we’ll cover that in another Bad Guys article soon). It also doesn’t cover a situation where the antagonists are supernaturally powered evil creatures like Demons or Devils, We’ll cover those in another, another article). Those are specific circumstances that are more the exception than the rule, and we will cover those in detail later.
Variations
There are a couple of variations on this theme that all work roughly the same way. Let’s take a closer look.
Grey Shaded Good Guys
Humans, elves and other traditional good guys take on some neat properties when you peel off the “Good Guy” tag. The shades of grey reveal more of the unusual personality traits that people have and you can see greedy humans, stubborn elves, belligerent dwarves and a host of other interesting social dynamics. Take a look at what options you can add to your world building processes by shading some grey into your setting.
The Blackest of Black
If you want to have some fun, you can play into the typical fantasy roles of a given culture as the exception, rather than the rule. One exemplar of “traditional” cultural values in a grey shaded group makes the contrast between the two much more obvious. If you want to have fun with this, go the other direction and have a character that is the tonal opposite, a “Whitest of Whites” version of this variant.
Conclusions
Antagonists are an important part of any RPG or Fantasy experience and they deserve a lot of thought and planning to implement. Motivation is an important thing to understand when placing your antagonists, and can help you build impressive adventures and arcs for your game. Avoid the idea of “Bad Guy” races and just look at the cultures and groups you think tell an interesting story and you can build encounters and adventures out of. If you have their motivations down, you can figure out what the antagonists you’ve chosen are going to do.
I hope this gives all of you some insights and ideas on incorporating this style of a Plot Element into your game without it becoming a burden to your fun. If you’d like to see more of these, or have a question about a specific plot element that you’d like to know more about, drop me a line on twitter, which you should be able to see over there on the right side of the screen. Game On,
Game Fans.
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