How can I make a villain's arcana more interactive?

Question

I've been having some difficulty making the Arcana of my villains stand out in my 7th Sea campaigns.

Specifically, how can I better communicate which arcana the villain has, and encourage the players to interact with it (via drama dice and role playing)?

Do I just tell the players what the villain's arcana is? This seems to run into problems with Fate Witches (who have a power to view arcana), villains disguised as heroes (it sort of ruins it), and villains with the deceitful arcana (which overlaps with villains disguised as heroes).

If I don't flat out tell my players what arcana the villain has, how can I communicate the difference between a villain who happens to have a plan, and the villain with the Scheming flaw?

Answer 1

If the scalpel isn't working, pick up the hammer. My reading of the rules is that a Fate Witch should be able to see a villain's Arcana. It's a nice, tangible bonus for someone who plays a character type that doesn't often get to directly affect play. As for others, well, the roleplaying cues are a good idea. But it's hard to direct players where you (and they) want to go. I allow my players to ask whether spending a Drama Die to activate a possible Flaw would produce any effect - it's not necessary to specify which Flaw they're thinking of. I give them a yes/no answer depending on if the NPC has a Flaw, and if it's one that could be relevant to the situation at hand. If the answer is yes, it's their choice whether it's worth spending a precious, precious Drama Die to see what happens.

Not every group will like such a straightforward approach. We've just found that saying "If I spend a Drama Die, will this guy do something entertainingly self-destructive?" keeps the action moving quickly. Trying to guess whether the NPC is a full-on Villain, and then trying to figure out their Flaw, and then spending a Drama Die that might not do anything, ended up not being fun for us.

Answer 2

Note that this is a role playing answer not a system answer

Other The Edge has a mechanism for adding a "sign" to each skill a character has. For example, for a skill called Athletics, the sign could be "wears tight shirt" or "drink protein shakes" or "muscular body" or "wears sports wear". Those give you little indicators of the way a character looks or behaves. You could do the same for your game. Your villain could be rude to the lower classes, he could sport a skull motif in his cloths (cuffs, tie, whatnot), or he could have a tendency to ignore what people tell him (hubris++). This sign does not necessary have to be physical. For a learned skill, you could have "speak in long worlds", "uses Latin in sentences", "quotes others". This gives you a hint as to what their skill/arcana/flaw/merit is.

Catch phrases are good as well as mannerisms or accents (if you can do them, I cannot). Props can do wonders. For that character wearing a gas mask, speak into an empty pint glass when he says something. For that character with a speech impediment, put a few d10 in your mouth. Never us contractions or rude words. Always pause at the start of the sentence and leave the end as if you were still thinking of something new and horrible that you can do. These are other ways in which to convey what the skill/arcana/flaw/merit is although they are more to do with making the character memorable.

Actors are a great source of those. Forget 99% of most villain from Hollywood. Concentrate on the good ones. The ones that makes you think "I love this guy, when I grow up I want to be him". Pick James Spader as Alan Shore (Boston Legal), or Paul Giamatti in Shoot 'em Up, or Hamlet. Look to books and novels. Who makes the best villains? Pick them all. This hints are how to reverse engineer what skills/arcana/flaws/merits a character has from the way they act. Thus, if you take it in reverse you should see what aspect you can use to convey a particular feel.

Now that you have a good villain in mind, think: What skills/arcana/gizmo/advantage best model this fictional and real villain? Work in reverse and you should find something suitable.

Quote from comment: How can I make a catch phrase or a speech impediment communicate that a villain is not only megalomaniac, but fatally so?

Litter the speech with "I", "Me", "how great I am", "I came up with ...", "I am so good that...", "Clearly you would not understand what I did", "You are foolish". Basically, arrogance, hubris, aggressive speak, and putting others down all the time. Add a evil cackling laugh to top it off. Describe the cloths the villain wears as exorbitant, overly rich, and over the top. If anyone interrupts him, make the villain blow up in rage. Shout your players down, stand up and tower over them -- even if you have to get on a chair to do so. It should convey that the character is a megalomaniac fairly well.

Answer 3

Also, you have to give your players something to relate to, first and foremost, when developing characters in a plot sequence.

You know, Homer Simpson is the kind of guy that says, "Doh!" all the time, which is interesting, but it's not what makes people connect to him. People connect to him because he's a working stiff with a good heart, even though he's kind of dumb. A lot of fathers are that way.

If you want your players to catch the deeper meaning behind arcana, you have to find a way that it connects to their real lives. I know the Homer Simpson example is a little out there, but you could really use any character with good dynamics. Garfield is a cat that's open about his guilty pleasures. He just wants to eat and be happy on the outside, but we all know that he's paying back with his intelligence.

Whatever your character trait may be, there's got to be a reason. Sell the back story. Give your characters some scrying power. Don't let them fight everything right away. Have a character appear in the middle of the night to converse and take a bite out of someone and then disappear almost as suddenly.

And if you're having an issue with 'just telling them', then don't make it matter so much. Let them 'judge the book by its cover', then hit them with a taint for being too quick with their guns. For example, they might accidentally kill a level 0 who's just jerking them around. Have the character come back to life, pissed. You have to condition your players into thinking deeply if they aren't doing it by themselves. Present them with the opportunity, first, though.