The Whistler wrote:Personally, I'd like to stay away from reckless PC slaying due to aforementioned reasons and the inevitable butthurt that follows an assassination.
That's a fair and expected desire, Big Whistley. Though, as you know, Bhaal doesn't care—he just wants death to happen (every Tenday, else...you're beholden to him for DOUBLE DEATHS to make up for the deficit!!).
The Whistler wrote:Perhaps more politically inclined PCs will use the faction as a means of removing NPCs standing between them and their goals. To my knowledge there's been no killing of prominent NPCs to advance an agenda on the server which is a bit of a disappointment.
Again, this requires actual Storylines, using Evil-minded PCs, supported by DMs. The paradigm is that it's easy to kill/win over DM-generated Evil, but almost nearly entirely IMPOSSIBLE to kill off a Lore-based NPC, or even a Flaming Fist guard!!
The Whistler wrote:In short, my idea of this guild is a political tool veiled behind religious righteousness. Not some way for PCs to get back at their ex'es or random people who called them an idiot on the road.
The idea is awesome. But it requires Players with Characters as antagonists to Bhaalist RP, to be willing to win/lose in the Big RP of it all. How many Players can you say would be willing to place their Character in such a situation? It's one thing to be super open to PvP, but what about real conflict that involved killing/murder
that should very much end the life of the PC/NPC!!!
Maybe, and very possibly, the only way to manifest an idea like this, is to create both pos/neg. sides of the equation, at the same time. As in, a few Players create Bhaalists and a few create Illmatari, and they all know about each other, and they know that the goal in this "game," is to find a way to overcome the Other. Fully using all that is available on BGTSCC IC, to make that happen.
But it would be already skewed, me thinks, because the Good Forces are in about a 80/20% position over Evil Forces. It would be far too easy to squash a Bhaalist Cult, atm. Unless, something like this would happen: Zhentarim offer lodging in Darkhold to the Bhaalists, in order to use them as tools; the Cult of the Dragon furnish them with secrets and powers; the Thieves Guild employs them for assassinations in order to protect their "neutrality" position; the Red Wizards provide safe and secret lodging in the Gate in order to enact the Bhaalist's murders; The Church of Shar provide dark insight and guidance; etc..
Sounds pretty cool!!!