Storyteller's Corner: A Motley Collection

Following is a list of many of the available antagonists for the World of Darkness. Most of this list is geared toward the standard World of Darkness and Vampire: the Requiem venues, with certain venue specific antagonists from other venues purposefully left out.


Aswang (WoD: Antagonists, p.112 and Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.16)

Azlu (Werewolf: the Forsaken, p.239)
More detailed information can be found in Werewolf: the Forsaken - Blasphemies, p.55

Baykosh (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.22)

Beast of Bethlehem (WoD: Antagonists, p.115)

Belial's Brood
While they provide an interesting antagonist, they are much more in depth than simple mindless hordes. I will touch further upon how to utilize them in an upcoming post.

Beshilu (Werewolf: the Forsaken, p.241)
More detailed information can be found in Werewolf: the Forsaken - Blasphemies, p.57

Bhüta (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.26)

The Black Hounds (Mythologies, p.130)
As the Black Hounds only hunt Kindred, they are rarely useful for other venues.

Blood Bathers (Immortals, p.24)

Body Thieves (Immortals, p.56)

Cihuateteo (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.30)

Cultists (WoD: Antagonists, p.74)
While a fiery religious group makes a decent antagonist, you have to come up with a reason that they are butting heads with the local supernaturals. Perhaps what they hold sacred is a heresy to the Lancea Sanctum, or they seem to be targeting the pagan cults of the local Acolytes.

The problems with running religious cults are several, the first being their core beliefs. In order to make such a cult believable, it's best to pour through established real world religious texts, find a particular passage that might lead to an extremist viewpoint, and then find other passages that support this viewpoint. You don't need to flush out the entire belief structure, but having a decent amount of context in what makes them different from already established religious groups (especially the one they have splintered from) makes the cult more believable as an antagonist. For examples, you can look at such real world examples as the People's Temple (Jonestown Massacre), Koreshians (Waco Incident), and Aum Shinrikyo (Tokyo Sarin Gas attack).

The second largest problem with running a cult as an antagonist is the potential to alienate or offend certain players who have similar beliefs. The best way to avoid losing players is to make the cult extremists to such a degree that the similarities between the player's belief and the antagonists are few if any.

Additionally, Cults can be formed around Reality Bending Horrors (Second Sight, p.147)


Cymothoa Sanguinaria (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.36)

Dampyr (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.135)

Demons (Inferno)

Draugr (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.86)

Dreadful Night of the City (Mythologies, p.138)
The Urbiphage is a very powerful antagonist, and should be used sparingly, if at all. It is a great way to either end a chronicle, or to provide a "reset".

Eternals (Immortals, p.136)

Formosae (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.44)

Ghosts (WoD MET, p.332, Ghost Stories and Book of the Dead)

Ghûls (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.51)

Groetnich (WoD: Antagonists, p.117)

Harvesters (Immortals, p.140)

The Hunger (WoD: Antagonists, p.118)

The Hunter (Mythologies, p.136)

Hunters (WoD: Antagonists, p.46 or Hunter: the Vigil)
I'm always a fan of using mundane mortals as hunters, as they always bring the characters back to the idea that they can be brought low by their prey. Mortals are at a disadvantage against supernaturals only if you allow them to be, while your characters will have a swath of powers to call upon, the hunters should utilize tactics of surprise and subtlety. They should never just walk up to the characters and throw down, instead they should keep an eye on their target and find a method to exploit their weakness.

Imbued (WoD: Antagonists, p.29)

Jiang Shi (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.57)

The Just Angel (Mythologies, p.106)

Larvae (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.100)

The Living Web (WoD: Antagonists, p.121)

Mnemovores (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.62)
Removing a character's memory is difficult, because the player will remember the situation, and the potential for slipping up about what was taken from their memory is large. Thus, like with all memory-altering plot elements, it's best to craft a scene of something that happened to the character, and then let the events of that scene slowly leak out through other witnesses or through outer evidence. Nothing is more frightening than learning that you were involved in something that you can no longer recall.

Passion Shade (WoD: Antagonists, p.122)
More info on such spirits can be found in the Werewolf: the Forsaken venue and Book of Spirits.

The Patchwork People (Immortals, p.128)

Penanggalan (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.67)

The Phanariot (Mythologies, p.119)

Psychics (Second Sight, p.27)

The Purified (Immortals, p.90)

Ragged-men (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.73)

Reality-Bending Horrors (Second Sight, p.124)

Reborn (Immortals, p.134)

Red Jack (Mythologies, p.100)

Revenants (WoD: Antagonists, p.33)

Ridden (Werewolf: the Forsaken, p.242)
More detailed information can be found in Werewolf: the Forsaken - Blasphemies, p.47.

The Rizzetti Apparatus (Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.77)

The Strix (Requiem for Rome, p.225 and Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p.115)

Thaumaturges (Second Sight, p.69)

The Thief (WoD: Antagonists, p.124)
For an interesting take on this antagonist, watch the movie "Jeepers Creepers".

Toxicum Mold (WoD: Antagonists, p.126)
I'm normally hesitant to use such things (see my previous post of Storyteller's Corner: The Four Worst Plots), however, the Toxicum Mold is one of those rare instances that it actually has an answer for all the issues I've raised.

The Virus (WoD: Antagonists, p.130)

The Visitors (Immortals, p.124)

Wardens (Immortals, p.131)

Werewolves (Werewolf: the Forsaken)
Either the Forsaken or the Pure can make for interesting antagonists for a number of reasons. Perhaps a Kindred's activities have endangered some Wolf-Blooded, or perhaps the local Ordo Dracul have found a Wyrm's Nest which is a powerful Loci that they are unwilling to share.

Witchcat (WoD: Antagonists, p.128)

Zombies (WoD: Antagonists, p.20)



Postscript: A Note on Ghosts and Spirits

While using either in venues that are equipped to handle them (Awakening and Forsaken spring quickly to mind), the Storyteller who chooses to utilize ghosts or spirits, of any sort, should be careful. First off, there are some venues (notably Requiem) which are not readily built to handle much contact with either, as there is no specific power that allows for easy resolution of a plot involving them. Thus, it is the responsibility of the Storyteller to create a number of methods that they can be dealt with, and have that information avaliable to the characters.

Of course, that could be the entirety of the plot, and often is in various tales, that the ghost or spirit is laid to rest when a specific set of circumstances are met. Ghosts often have "unfinished business" that must be resolved or their remains need to be buried in hallowed ground, and spirits need to feed upon specific emotions or else weaken and disappear.