User blog comment:LiamFrostveins/Antagonists/@comment-4536066-20120825213020

A problem I usually find with this is that so many people want to play the hero.

I've always liked the idea of a movement driven by well-meaning but misled extremist ideals. Take for example, a saradominist who wants to cleanse the world of nonbelievers in favor of a peaceful, faithful society. A guthixian who wants to preserve the goodness of nature and its luscious giving resources and so goes on a mission to destroy mechanized cities and vanquish industrialists. A non-magician who wants to rid the world of magic-based violence, and so embarks on a quest to destroy all the world's sources of magic. A citizen of Port Khazard who forms a band of pirates to go raid wealthier towns of their goods so that they can better feed their families back home during the depression inflicted by crushing competition in Ardougne and Yanille. Often the leaders are charismatic, persuasive, and can present their cases in very moving ways. These things happen in real life, after all, but that wouldn't be the case if nobody ever got converted to the cause.

Either a character is righteous and incorruptible and isn't swayed by the movement's powerful words, a character is totally apathetic and can't be bothered to pay attention, or a character is devious and joins the fight with the righteous character just to get a chance to smack the other guy around.

I know it's fun to be the great savior who identifies the threat and saves everyone from themselves, but if nobody ever allows their characters to take interest, that great antagonist would never develop past some charismatic nutter shouting at people in the town square.