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There’s a school of thought in certain books, comics, movies, and RPGs that giving a character one random obsession makes them well-rounded. While this is not remotely true, it’s at least a step in the right direction, and can sometimes even lead to something approaching three-dimensionality. Here’s a random table to get you started on designing villains that don’t suck quite so much.
- One of the PCs
- An animal (Mr. Fluffy)
- A religion (Christianity)
- A culture(Irish Heritage)
- A famous person (Cher)
- A historical person (Alexander the Great)
- A craft (woodworking)
- A hobby (gardening)
- Proper etiquette
- Personal hygeine
- Works of art (Van Gogh)
- A type of food (pizza)
- Puzzles or riddles (jigsaw puzzles)
- A sport (soccer)
- Fringe technology (trying to build a weather control machine)
- A fringe belief (UFOs are real)
- A mythological creature (dragons)
- A philosophy or belief system (Objectivism)
- An ancient society (Sparta)
- A conspiracy theory (911 was an inside job)
