[quote=@Superboy]
Specifically, what makes a good villain in a Roleplay setting. How do you go about crafting a worthy antagonist for your players? What do you keep in mind while you're creating the big bad, and what differentiates a mediocre baddie from a quality villain?

How do RP antagonists differ from standard antagonists in other fiction, such as novels and film?
[/quote]

You need a motive, but that's something that can vary so much between the type of villain you create. You don't necessarily need to be an evil character as well but someone who opposes the protagonist(s).

In Avatar if you look at Firelord Ozai, he never really appeared much until the third series but his actions to [b]expand the power of his nation[/b] was seen throughout the story. He did that by force and oppression, but the character himself was nothing more than a cunning firebender. Put aside the fact that Aang was the avatar, he held a strong fighting match against a young boy who was little more than a basic skilled fighter.

Azula on the otherhand was more chaotic and was seeking her selfish [b]father's approval[/b]. Her desire to please him grew more and more as the series went on and her actions grew darker and darker, almost to the point where she went mentally insane after her friends decided to abandon her.

On a different scale, and only cause I played it recently, but Transistor has a brilliant villain who dare I say... isn't a villain. In that story the premise is that the city of Cloudbank is being overrun by the Process, something that the antagonist started, but it only turned that way when their careful plan fell apart. The truth is that the villain in that series [b]wanted something to change but it went against the wishes of the people[/b], even if it was a better choice for them. So they forced it upon the people, and well... they screwed up. The process then follows a [url=https://www.google.com.au/url?q=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlueAndOrangeMorality&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiWluWFhcrZAhUCm5QKHa-DAekQFggLMAA&usg=AOvVaw3TU6dU1aGKkYCPTL8toVPC]blue/orange morality[/url] and begins destroying everything, but only because that's what it does. To say the process is evil is like saying a cheetah hunting a gazelle is evil. It does not know it is wrong by human standards, but simply following it's own natural way.

I can explain a bit more later, just ran out of time for now...