So, the current writer's block that I'm chipping through right now is creating a memorable villain for the Witch Hunter campaign.

I'm going to feature him in the first adventure that we're writing for the campaign setting. I really want this villain to have some punch. I want him to get under people's skin.

I've been able to do this before with Toben the Many and the Telling Man from the Ravenloft products that I've written in the past. People gave me a good response on those characters, so I'm assuming that history can repeat itself.

What I'm going to do is create a villain who's one of the demons mentioned in the Bible. The reason being is that one of the themes of Witch Hunter is Biblical Evil. The dark and twisted things that happen in the Witch Hunter setting are seen very much through a Puritan scope. So, of course Satan and the Bible need to come into play.

I'm perfectly cool with that, too, because Biblical evil is pretty dark. Herod killing all of the children under a year old in his province in an attempt to kill Christ; the men of Sodom screaming at Lot to come out of his house so they can rape him to death...all of these things are as wicked as they come.

Plus, if you look at the writings of this time period, people had really vivid and nightmarish imaginations when it came to things evil. Look at what people believed went on at a witches' sabbath. Pretty messed up, eh? Of course, these assumptions were wrong, but we're coming at this game setting as if all the superstitions and fears that people had at this time were real. Look at the legends about the monastery of Lucedio, as well. These legends also spring from the same time period.

But of course, the challenge is to create a character that comes from this tradition. A character that has motives, feelings, thoughts, and a background. A demon, no less. It's a hard nut to crack, because these old superstitions labeled such things as "other" and left it at that. They didn't plumb the depths of their characters.

So I've had to think backwards in my writing. I've had to assume a Milton-esque approach and think...why would this powerful entity make these decisions.

I've come up with some interesting answers.