This page covers antagonists in this TTRPG system.
Antagonists are non-player characters who are in conflict with the player characters. This conflict needn’t always end in violence. Using the social mechanics of this system, you have almost limitless options for dealing with an antagonist. However, certain antagonists may have violence as your only recourse; talking a hungry pack of wolves into not eating you may be impossible for most characters.
This page is largely for Game Masters, but it won’t hurt anything for a player to read this content.
Antagonist List
Our list of antagonist statblocks is currently rather short. It will grow substantially with time.
Antagonist Equipment
In our antagonist statblocks, we provide basic equipment that the antagonist might possess. As the GM, you are free to add, remove, buff, or debuff the equipment that your antagonists use.
Ranged or Melee Antagonists
Our statblocks provide stats for antagonists that have both a ranged weapon and a melee weapon. This doesn’t mean that every antagonist in your game needs to have both. In fact, most antagonists should not have both types of weapons.
Antagonists In Combat
Antagonists function the same way as any player character in combat. They follow all the same rules. Exceptions to this are detailed below.
The Gamemaster decides how antagonists act in combat; who they attack, where they move, when they retreat, etc.
Minions
Minions are enemies who only have 1 health. View minion mechanics here.
This is useful for keeping fights short & exciting.
Troops
Troops are groups of individuals who act as a single entity in combat. View troop mechanics here.
Troop mechanics can allow a large group of relatively weak individuals to be a threat to a dragon, demi-god, or similarly powerful entity.
Bosses
Creating bosses can be challenging in a lot of TTRPG systems. It isn’t uncommon for player characters to thrash them instantly, or be unable to scratch them. We have a simple solution for this: the ‘Boss’ power.
The Boss Power
This power is designed to make a single entity an actual threat to a group of player characters. This power grants a number of turns in combat equal to the number of player characters in the fight. Turns taken by the boss should not be sequential – the GM should try to allow a player character to take a turn in between each of the bosses turns. There should probably never be more than 1 entity with this power in a combat scene.
This power may not be purchased by player characters. The only situation in which a GM should consider allowing a PC to have this power is if it is a 1-player game.
Surrender
Surrender is important. Not everyone is a fanatic who will continue a hopeless battle.
Why Surrender?
Enemies surrender in hopes of saving their lives. As a Gamemaster, your job is to know just how committed the NPCs are. Will they fight to the death? Why? If the combat is clearly going to conclude with their death, and they’re unable to flee, what keeps them fighting? Some antagonists will keep fighting no matter what, but they generally fall into one of these categories: zealots, over-confident idiots, raging bulls, or people convinced that captivity by their enemies is a fate worse than death.
Surrender Mechanics
Mechanically, surrendering is an interrupt action which can take place at any point during combat. Surrendering means laying down arms and and assuming a non-threatening position. Assuming a non-threatening position means dropping your initiative to 1. For insincere surrendering, see the “False Surrender” power in the Guile skill.
Surrender As A Storytelling Opportunity
Dead antagonists offer little value in moving the story forward. A defeated & captive antagonist can still be an antagonist, even from inside a jail cell. Taking captives is almost always up to the player characters, not the GM. However, the GM can encourage the PCs to take captives by having antagonists surrender.
The surrender of NPCs allows for fantastic storytelling opportunities where we learn something important about the player characters. Will they slaughter their captives? Will they get important information out of their captive? How will they treat them?
Apart from providing the party with information, captives can move the story forward in a variety of ways: Escape attempts, spying, coming around to the player character’s way of thinking(both sincere and insincere), romantic entanglements, talking their way out ,etc. For more ideas of what to do with captive antagonists check out the relevant TVTropes.org articles: Poisonous Captive, Defiant Captive, Damsel In Distress, Damsel Out Of Distress, Play-Along Prisoner, Badass In Distress, Captured On Purpose
Target Priority – Managing Aggression
GMs must balance a number of factors when choosing who to attack. This list is ordered, from top to bottom, with the factors each attacker should consider:
- Who is within range to attack?
- Who has the highest initiative?
- Who is the most vulnerable?
- Who is the biggest threat?
- Who does the attacking character hate more?
Purpose of Combat
Combat can have many uses to the gamemaster, players, player characters, and non-player characters within the narrative. Combat is not always as simple as killing your enemies & escaping with your life. Here are a few scenarios in which combat has a greater goal:
- Saving a group of defenseless people
- Defending crucial infrastructure, equipment, weapon emplacements, or positions with strategic importance
- Capturing territory, crucial infrastructure, or positions with strategic importance
- Destroying a piece of equipment, crucial infrastructure, or weapon emplacements
- Taking prisoners
- Preventing sentries from sounding an alarm during infiltration
NPCs Must Act With Purpose In Combat
It’s important for the GM to keep the purpose of the combat in mind while managing NPCs and rolling dice. If the enemy sent a small strikeforce to burn a wooden bridge; that’s the goal they should be working toward during the fight. They should not forget their mission just because enemies showed up.
Individual Player Character Antagonists
Many antagonists in your game will be antagonists for the whole party. Some antagonists will only be antagonistic toward a single party member, for example: ex-lovers, sibling rivalries, inner demons, political opponents, market competitors, love rivals, At character creation time, we suggest collaborating with the player to create an antagonist that is specific to their character. It doesn’t need to be a world-ending demonic threat. It can be as minor as a deadbeat sibling that lives off the player characters’ success.