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New World of Darkness
World of Darkness: Antagonists
Deep in the Shadows
The night is not alone. Even those few who see into the shadows of the World of Darkness are surprised and horrified at what lurks there. Not every corpse that walks is a vampire. Not every mortal who chants in reverence to a greater power is a mage. Some of these beings are creatures born of fear and hunger and some defy definition altogether.
Monsters Know Fear
World of Antagonists provides systems and information on beings for use as foes and foils for your Storytelling characters. Zombies, monster-hunters, cultists and stranger things await. Some want only to exist, to feed in their own ways and be left alone. Others exist only to stalk and kill the unsuspecting. Do you stand against them, or do you have something more devious in mind? Hardcover.
The night is not alone. Even those few who see into the shadows of the World of Darkness are surprised and horrified at what lurks there. Not every corpse that walks is a vampire. Not every mortal who chants in reverence to a greater power is a mage. Some of these beings are creatures born of fear and hunger and some defy definition altogether.
Monsters Know Fear
World of Antagonists provides systems and information on beings for use as foes and foils for your Storytelling characters. Zombies, monster-hunters, cultists and stranger things await. Some want only to exist, to feed in their own ways and be left alone. Others exist only to stalk and kill the unsuspecting. Do you stand against them, or do you have something more devious in mind? Hardcover.
136 pages, Hardcover
First published November 29, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 1, 2018
Antagonists that appeal to the audience as realistic, empathetic people create a harder-hitting, longer-lasting impact than those conventionally portrayed as unrealistic, unrelatable villains,
Perhaps that seems obvious. On the surface level, most (if not all) audiences would prefer a character with substance, with multiple layers and dimensions to their identity, rather than the Flat Stanley of character development. While we both already understood this truth, we asked ourselves: why? Why do we connect with these characters despite our insistence that we would never follow in such wicked footsteps? The answer is simple.
Sympathetic antagonists stir audiences to indignation because hating someone you understand - who you might even mirror - makes you wish they had a chance at redemption: just as you, yourself, seek forgiveness, acceptance, and empathy from others you believe view you as their villain.
Sure, we all love to hate the villains with the ludicrously-exaggerated physical features, the unabashedly-sinful sense of morality, the blatantly-evil schemes for world domination. We love to hate them because we all know that we would never be these people. These characters cannot relate to their audience because this world is not filled with melodramatic villainy. It is filled with tainted morality masquerading as righteousness.
So what of those who seem righteous to us? What about those we understand? What about those whose backstories seem eerily similar to our own? What about those who stand for identical causes, even if our actions differ? Are we blind enough to believe we could not be the villains of our own stories?
These antagonists cause us the greatest distress, for defaming them means admitting that there is something wrong within ourselves.
If you find yourself struggling to admit that you identify with the wicked, allow me to be the first to confess my sins: I love more villains than I love heroes. When I watch The Lord of the Rings, I understand Saruman’s steadfastness to his liege. When I read A Song of Ice and Fire, I understand the lovelessness that led to Cersei Lannister’s insanity. When I play Persona 5, I understand Akechi’s drive for perfectionism. I understand these evildoers and it terrifies me.
This internal tension exacerbates the external hatred. You hate yourself for wanting to root for what you know is wrong. You hate yourself for justifying the aftermath of their trials. You hate yourself because there are only two endings for their stories: justice or redemption. And if you can find even a remnant of yourself inside of them, everything inside of you prays that the both of you can find redemption.
So then, what endings do we, as authors, scribe for our villains? Do all of them find redemption because we cannot bear to think that we would not find forgiveness ourselves? Or do we neglect our similarities and sentence them all to death? Certainly not. The perfection lies in the tension between the two.
There is power in the redemption of those that deserve retribution but receive mercy instead - but not every villain chooses to accept their pardon.
Villains should have the same chance at forgiveness as we all do. Perhaps this chance does not exist in the central storyline, when the hero extends the olive branch. Maybe a friend, a leader, a god gave them an opportunity to repent prior to the story’s start. But no one just slips into sin accidentally and incurably. People choose the path they walk, shining knight or king of darkness - and the decision became concrete when they rejected redemption.
In the real world, we see this in everyday life. Recently, a dear friend of mine whom I had poured hours of blood, sweat and tears into mentoring chose to leave my life - and poorly at that. She had chance after chance to change, but she chose a lesser life. Now, she wreaks havoc in the lives of innocent bystanders, influencing others to sin alongside of her. This is not the woman I knew - but it is the woman I knew she could be without change. Heroes that reject mercy become the antagonists of their own stories, and in the tales of others. Unfortunately, a consistent denial of the need for deliverance leads to death for themselves and for the others left in their wake. There is little hope left for such an enemy.
But that does not mean that everyone is void of the chance to change. Even the impurest of us can come clean. The beauty of my faith, Christianity, is that each person is on a level playing field when it comes to forgiveness. We’re all a hot mess, pre-and-post-cross, and we don’t need to be perfect to be forgiven. But we can change, bit by bit, day by day, never fearing unforgiveness. Nor must we change everything about ourselves by ourselves. This is the same for the enemies in everyday life. This is the same as the opponents to our protagonists. This is the same for you - even if you believe that these villains that seem so similar to you in some way or another are beyond salvation.
Writers: what antagonists will you include in your stories? Will you write only the ones whose sins you cannot see in yourself? Or will you bleed out on the pages of your story, letting your sins, your struggles, your temptations take place on paper? Will you let others see themselves in the lover and the unlovable, the friend and the traitor, the protector and the terrorist? Will you give your villains a chance at salvation? Will you give yourself a chance at salvation?
Perhaps that seems obvious. On the surface level, most (if not all) audiences would prefer a character with substance, with multiple layers and dimensions to their identity, rather than the Flat Stanley of character development. While we both already understood this truth, we asked ourselves: why? Why do we connect with these characters despite our insistence that we would never follow in such wicked footsteps? The answer is simple.
Sympathetic antagonists stir audiences to indignation because hating someone you understand - who you might even mirror - makes you wish they had a chance at redemption: just as you, yourself, seek forgiveness, acceptance, and empathy from others you believe view you as their villain.
Sure, we all love to hate the villains with the ludicrously-exaggerated physical features, the unabashedly-sinful sense of morality, the blatantly-evil schemes for world domination. We love to hate them because we all know that we would never be these people. These characters cannot relate to their audience because this world is not filled with melodramatic villainy. It is filled with tainted morality masquerading as righteousness.
So what of those who seem righteous to us? What about those we understand? What about those whose backstories seem eerily similar to our own? What about those who stand for identical causes, even if our actions differ? Are we blind enough to believe we could not be the villains of our own stories?
These antagonists cause us the greatest distress, for defaming them means admitting that there is something wrong within ourselves.
If you find yourself struggling to admit that you identify with the wicked, allow me to be the first to confess my sins: I love more villains than I love heroes. When I watch The Lord of the Rings, I understand Saruman’s steadfastness to his liege. When I read A Song of Ice and Fire, I understand the lovelessness that led to Cersei Lannister’s insanity. When I play Persona 5, I understand Akechi’s drive for perfectionism. I understand these evildoers and it terrifies me.
This internal tension exacerbates the external hatred. You hate yourself for wanting to root for what you know is wrong. You hate yourself for justifying the aftermath of their trials. You hate yourself because there are only two endings for their stories: justice or redemption. And if you can find even a remnant of yourself inside of them, everything inside of you prays that the both of you can find redemption.
So then, what endings do we, as authors, scribe for our villains? Do all of them find redemption because we cannot bear to think that we would not find forgiveness ourselves? Or do we neglect our similarities and sentence them all to death? Certainly not. The perfection lies in the tension between the two.
There is power in the redemption of those that deserve retribution but receive mercy instead - but not every villain chooses to accept their pardon.
Villains should have the same chance at forgiveness as we all do. Perhaps this chance does not exist in the central storyline, when the hero extends the olive branch. Maybe a friend, a leader, a god gave them an opportunity to repent prior to the story’s start. But no one just slips into sin accidentally and incurably. People choose the path they walk, shining knight or king of darkness - and the decision became concrete when they rejected redemption.
In the real world, we see this in everyday life. Recently, a dear friend of mine whom I had poured hours of blood, sweat and tears into mentoring chose to leave my life - and poorly at that. She had chance after chance to change, but she chose a lesser life. Now, she wreaks havoc in the lives of innocent bystanders, influencing others to sin alongside of her. This is not the woman I knew - but it is the woman I knew she could be without change. Heroes that reject mercy become the antagonists of their own stories, and in the tales of others. Unfortunately, a consistent denial of the need for deliverance leads to death for themselves and for the others left in their wake. There is little hope left for such an enemy.
But that does not mean that everyone is void of the chance to change. Even the impurest of us can come clean. The beauty of my faith, Christianity, is that each person is on a level playing field when it comes to forgiveness. We’re all a hot mess, pre-and-post-cross, and we don’t need to be perfect to be forgiven. But we can change, bit by bit, day by day, never fearing unforgiveness. Nor must we change everything about ourselves by ourselves. This is the same for the enemies in everyday life. This is the same as the opponents to our protagonists. This is the same for you - even if you believe that these villains that seem so similar to you in some way or another are beyond salvation.
Writers: what antagonists will you include in your stories? Will you write only the ones whose sins you cannot see in yourself? Or will you bleed out on the pages of your story, letting your sins, your struggles, your temptations take place on paper? Will you let others see themselves in the lover and the unlovable, the friend and the traitor, the protector and the terrorist? Will you give your villains a chance at salvation? Will you give yourself a chance at salvation?
May 12, 2019
An awesome book that I used many times and that I now am giving away rather than let it stay on my shelves collecting dust. I hope that someone gets some real use out of it.
May 31, 2013
A nice collection, does what it says on the tin, the only possible complaint is that it seems a bit underdeveloped - perhaps because when it was published, the new World of Darkness was still a bit underdeveloped . . .
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews