Villains.
So memorable when you get them right.
So pathetic when you get them wrong.
The Bane of the BBEG
Do you know what makes a bad adventure? When the BBEG is under-developed and a bit crap.
But all is not lost ...
Do you know what rescues an adventure from a bad BBEG? When you have memorable, cool villains, even villains who are NOT the BBEG!
Consider some examples and you will see what I mean ...
The Matrix - BBEG is the architect. Pretty crap. BUT! We had the Agents, and the memorable Agent Smith (who in the lore is meant to be generic, even down to his name, but he becomes a "special" agent heh)
Lord of the Rings - Most of the time the BBEG is a frikkin' Eye, but still, there are a whole bunch of evil folks who more than make up for it.
Star Wars - We all came away remembering Darth Vader and we pretty much forgot about the fact he was NOT the boss man in A New Hope. Remember that? And the boss in ANH wasn't even the actual boss! (They name-check the Emperor but we don't see him).
Cthulhu - Has anyone ever had a game where they actually meet Cthulhu?
Doctor Who - There are many, many memorable villains in the decades of Doctor Who, but no single BBEG. The Master or Davros come the closest I would wager, but they are not THE single nemesis of the whole thing.
What Makes a Cool Villain FOR YOU?
Before I get into why I think great villains are great, I want you to think about memorable villains that you have enjoyed.
Really think, right now.
Who immediately comes to mind?
Now think about villains that were not so great. Especially ones that the storyteller, writer, movie attempt to tell you are impressive, but really aren't.
What are the differences?
Good Villains Are Dangerous
One of the first things that we need to get right with our villains is they need to be an actual, credible threat.
They need to be dangerous.
That is not to say that every villain has to be physically massive!
Hans Gruber was one of the best villains of all time, but not because he was himself personally a physical danger to the protagonist (though I am sure Hans could handle himself well, given his line of work.)
It was because he was smart. Very smart.
Fans of the amazingly wonderful Discworld books by Terry Pratchett will recognize the absolute pinnacle of smart villains, Havelock Vetinari. This leads me to the next element ...
Good Villains Are Logical
I just mentioned Havelock Vetinari. He isn't always the villain, per se. That kind of makes him even more dangerous.
In a way, the best villains are like the best "everyman" heroes - they are in a certain situation at a certain time and act accordingly.
Now I am NOT saying they can't be irrational, or even not entirely mentally well, but when we see them act and make decisions, there is a consistent and congruent behavior that makes sense in context.
Sometimes you can even empathize with their choices.
Killmonger in Black Panther is an obvious example of this. He is almost the hero of the movie from a certain point of view.
Another Marvel example is Wenwu in Shang-Chi. His motivation was heartache and yearning to restore his wife, his methods are pure "bad guy", and it seems he was often a crappy dad, but his motivation? That is darned relatable.
My third Marvel example is Magneto. In another story he would be the main protagonist, fighting for the survival of his people, first against the Nazis, and then against the modern society who rejects his kind. And also Nazis.
Good Villains Are Memorable
Here is another place where people continuously get things wrong.
They hear "memorable" and give their villain a speech impediment, a facial disfiguration, a silly walk, etc.
Not only is that pathetically lacking in imagination, but it is also a crappy thing to do as a human being.
In Harry Potter, Voldermort is ok. Bit of a basic villain in terms of "he is the bad guy because he is evil". We mainly know he is evil because they say he is and he does evil things. He looks weird and talks to snakes. OK.
Dolores Umbridge, however. Now she is a good villain. Lawful Evil. Looks more like a Grandma than an obvious threat. She does her cruel deeds with a smile because she thinks she is doing the right thing, and because she can. In this way, she is realistic, well, in the context of a world of magic anyway. We meet petty people like her in real life.
Not only is she a great villain, but she represents a larger, more insidious evil - the evil of zero tolerance, letter of the law, inflexible bureaucracy. When people say "you can't fight city hall" this is the kind of person we think of.
Bottom Line
It's too easy to make your villains simple thugs, or hand wave "they were born evil just are".
Put in the effort and you can create a villain your players will love to hate!