It ain't easy playing Evil. In general, but specifically, and especially, on BGTSCC. Why? Personally, I think it is because the average Player wants to play the Hero role. And, the environment—besides a few small pockets—supports the "goodly" world view. That means, for the Player of Evil Characters: a) PCs are against him/her; b) NPCs (and thus DMs) are against him/her. This is all IC.
But that does not make it impossible. It just means varying levels of disrespect—both IC and often enough, OOC—for the Role-play that the Player of Evil is trying to bring to the Server.
But what makes it worse, again in my opinion, in any attempt at Evil RP on BGTSCC, is this gap of misunderstanding on what Players of Evil must invest, together, to make it viable, to make it happen, to make it enjoyable. Call it OOC or not, but Players need to work together, on some fundamental level. Too often, Evil RP is ruined amongst Players by Players...and not always because of IC reasons.
Simply put: Good Characters find more success as groups/organizing because it is not only the RP with is more friendly, but the OOC helpfulness that is brought by the Players. Furthermore, Players of Good could also be more supportive of Players of Evil, instead of so quickly dismissing the RP. I know it is easy to dismiss the RP, because historically, Evil RP accomplishes nothing on BGTSCC that has any long lasting effect, or makes any significant change that directly effects Good Characters. Maybe though, considering some recent DMs interest in fixing the lack I just stated, there might be a turnaround.
Thus below, you will find a collection of Guides from D&D books about Playing Evil Together, both for Players, but also for DMs, which, and it must be said: if DMs on BGTSCC do not make an effort to support Evil Organizations, Individuals and general Player-initiated RP...it is a guaranteed failure for those Players. What is failure, in this context? It is when invested RP has no effect on the environment. If we all are truly RPing, then our PCs must accept and react to the environment—logging out when you don't OOC agree with the environment, is not respecting the environment.
Philosophies of Evil from Champions of Ruin.
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Evil characters offer a rich diversity of opportunities for roleplaying. They can be complex people tormented by failure to live up to good ideals, although some evil characters never bother to analyze whether their actions are good or evil. Others believe that the end justifies the means, and that good can ultimately come of evil acts; some are opportunists who serve no higher purpose than personal advancement.
When playing an evil character, some people have a tendency to view evil in black-and-white terms and to assume that the evil character in the party is looking for any opportunity to betray, rob or murder his companions. This is an extreme viewpoint. Evil can manifest itself in many ways, not all of them so overt as stabbing the party’s paladin in the back or tossing victims into the fiery belly of a brazen idol. While assault and murder are obvious manifestations of an evil character’s behavior, ruthless selfishness can often be a more potent expression of evil than the psychotic thief who murders his companions in their sleep.
A character can be evil and yet not seem to be evil; he can be evil yet consider himself the epitome of goodness; or his evil might only show itself under certain conditions. A character who has contracted lycanthropy, for example, might donate treasure to widows and orphans, build temples, slay dragons, and help old ladies across the street—but on the night of the full moon, he hunts down and slaughters those widows and orphans and feeds the same old ladies to the dragon. Most of the time he is good, but his curse wipes out all the good that he does.
A naturally good or neutral character might be driven to evil through the need to seek revenge, finding evil acts an easy way to accomplish her goals. Another might stray from righteousness and goodness by using evil means to justify good ends. Of course, evil can be self-evident. No one is going to question whether the priest of Cyric is really a good guy at heart; he isn’t—if he were, Cyric wouldn’t grant him any spells. But just because he is evil doesn’t mean he is going to slaughter his companions and steal their treasure at the first opportunity. If evil were really that self-destructive, good wouldn’t have nearly as hard a time combating it.
At the same time, it can be hard to understand what would motivate a person to become evil. It is the rare individual who admits—much less embraces—being evil, and most people consider themselves, if not wholly good, certainly not irredeemably evil. Yet Faerûn is filled with irredeemably evil anti-heroes, gods and monsters. So what is evil?
If you wish to play an evil character, you might act exactly as you would play a good character, except in reverse. Instead of going out to slay the red dragon that has been terrorizing the elf village, you go out to slay the gold dragon that has been terrorizing the orc village. However, if you are going to interact and perhaps adventure with a party of good and neutral characters, you might need to explore your character’s evil nature a little more deeply and try to find out what it is that defines the evil alignment you have chosen for him.
Tradition/There Is No Evil
One potential cause for evil is simply following the norms and standards of your ancestors and society. Evil is defined by society, not by the inherent laws of gods or nature. What might be considered the darkest taboo in one place might be a perfectly acceptable practice somewhere else. For example, slavery is illegal in many parts of Faerûn but is fairly common in Thay, where even a good person might keep a slave or two simply because it is a societal norm. In some regions, the use of narcotics and hallucinogenic drugs is strongly discouraged, while in others it isan integral part of the daily spiritual lives of the people.
Other situations are not so obvious. Sorcery, for example, is forbidden in some regions for no other reason than that the people distrust it. Anyone practicing sorcery in such a place might well be called evil by the region’s judges and sheriffs, while just across the border, sorcery is an honored profession. In civilized lands, violent retribution or revenge is the exclusive domain of the civil or religious authorities. The rule of law is meant to protect the innocent from hasty judgment by a grieving father or angry mob.
If you are harmed and you lash out in retaliation, your actions might be seen to be as evil as the crime you are avenging. But in border regions and lawless areas where a person has to rely on his own devices, personal acts of revenge are the norm and are considered no more evil than an act of self-defense. Evil can often be defined not by an individual’s acts or personal philosophy, but by the culture in which he is acting at the time.
Characters might use this philosophy to justify their actions, and they could very well be correct, depending on their individual circumstances. A half-orc from the Spine of the World or a drow character from the Underdark might have a much more liberal interpretation of what constitutes evil compared to someone from Silverymoon or Cormyr.
In any case, either the player or the DM must assign an alignment to the character, if for no other reason than the fact that alignment plays a critical role in how certain magic works forbiddance spells, or damage reduction that is overcome by a certain kind of aligned weapon, for example. Morally ambiguous characters can be assigned the same alignment as their patron deity, if no other solution presents itself.
I Am Not Evil
Some people recognize that evil exists in the world, but they do not in any way think of themselves as evil, no matter how depraved their actions might be. The Eldreth Veluuthra (discussed on page 78 and further detailed in Lords of Darkness) is a perfect example of an evil organization that thinks its every action is in the service of good.
A character with this philosophy must still be assigned his correct alignment, no matter what he thinks of himself, for the same reasons as characters who believe in the Tradition/There Is No Evil philosophy. Either the player or the DM should assign alignment according to the preponderance of the character’s actions. If he occasionally does good things but most often resorts to evil ends to justify his evil means, he should be given an evil alignment, no matter what his objections.
Evil Curse
The character has become evil through some magical agent—a curse from a god, a disease such as lycanthropy, through contact with an artifact, or another form of powerful magic. In some cases, his outlook with respect to law and chaos does not change. The curse is usually resisted at first, but the longer it is in effect, the more likely it is that the character will give in to the curse’s evil characteristics.
Seduction
The character has been lured with promises of power, glory, wealth, or pleasure into performing evil acts. He is not proud of his actions, but his desire for these rewards outweighs his dislike of what he has become. He might even come to accept his evil nature and relish it. A character can be magically seduced through powerful enchantment spells or by being awed in the presence of an evil god. Seduction differs from an evil curse in that the character is not opposed to what is happening to him. He might not at first even be aware that he is acting in an evil manner, but when he does realize it, he doesn’t seek to change his ways.
Driven to Evil
A character could be driven to evil in several ways. His life or circumstances might have been so harsh that he had to commit evil acts just to survive. He might be seeking retribution for some unimaginable wrong done to him or those he loved. He might
be fighting fire with fire, so to speak, driven to evil just to keep a worse evil at bay.
Unlike the character who doesn’t accept that he is evil, this type of character often doesn’t see himself as truly evil—but he doesn’t deny that what he has done in the past could be taken that way. Often, he has some grandiose intention to make up for what he has done; of course, by that time it might be too late for him to change his ways.
Just Plain Mean
The character is incapable of controlling his violent or anti-social impulses. He might be kind, intelligent, and perfectly capable of completing a task, holding a conversation, and working successfully at a craft. But when something sets him off, there is no telling what he’ll do. There is no way of knowing from one day to the next what will ignite his fury; he usually blames his outbursts on others and doesn’t accept that he has done anything wrong, nor does he feel regret or remorse.
Natural Born Evil
The character has been brought up in a society in which evil is the rule of thumb, and he knows no other way of life. He was born on a battlefield or in an orc den, learned to deceive almost before he learned to talk, and probably committed his first truly vile act before he was ten years old.
This type of evil character is the most likely to undergo an alignment shift once exposed to other cultures. He is also the most likely to hate and fear anything that is different from himself.
Mad, I Tell You
Because of some psychosis, obsession or overpowering phobia, the character is driven to perform acts of incomprehensible evil. Even characters dedicated to the philosophy of evil or to evil gods often find this character’s actions beyond the pale of acceptable behavior. Depending on the nature of the madness, the character could feel remorse for the things he does, but he cannot stop himself from repeating them. Another character might delight in the things he does, or he might not even be aware of what he is doing.
Religions: Depending on the madness and how it manifests, the character might be incapable of participating in organized religion of any type, or he might be a leader of an evil religion or cult. He might even be a patron of a good religion. But underneath he hides a terrible secret, an impulse that drives him to do things that would horrify a demon. On the other hand, some evil religions and organizations could welcome him after discovering his madness so that they can
manipulate him and make use of his particular talents.
Evil Choice
For some reason, the character has chosen to act in an evil manner, one that he admits is evil and for which he feels no remorse. His reasons might be selfish, he might be bent on revenge by any means possible, or he might be driven to complete a task or achieve a goal, and will let nothing stand in his way. On the other hand, he could simply be a sociopath equally capable of acts of extreme good or extreme evil, neither of which move him emotionally or spiritually, and in which he is incapable of seeing any contradiction. Characters of this bent find it easy to conceal their alignment and move about in polite society.
Better to Rule in Hell than Serve in Heaven
This character is actively opposed to good, finds goodness to be repellent in every form, and thinks being good is a sign of weakness of character. He is driven by hate and lust and revels in the thwarting of goodness at every turn.
The Ends Justify the Means
This path follows a slippery slope. The character seeks some greater good, perhaps the overthrow of a heinous villain or the establishment of a good church or organization in the face of adversity; nothing will stop her from achieving this goal, even if she must do evil to accomplish it.
When playing an evil character, some people have a tendency to view evil in black-and-white terms and to assume that the evil character in the party is looking for any opportunity to betray, rob or murder his companions. This is an extreme viewpoint. Evil can manifest itself in many ways, not all of them so overt as stabbing the party’s paladin in the back or tossing victims into the fiery belly of a brazen idol. While assault and murder are obvious manifestations of an evil character’s behavior, ruthless selfishness can often be a more potent expression of evil than the psychotic thief who murders his companions in their sleep.
A character can be evil and yet not seem to be evil; he can be evil yet consider himself the epitome of goodness; or his evil might only show itself under certain conditions. A character who has contracted lycanthropy, for example, might donate treasure to widows and orphans, build temples, slay dragons, and help old ladies across the street—but on the night of the full moon, he hunts down and slaughters those widows and orphans and feeds the same old ladies to the dragon. Most of the time he is good, but his curse wipes out all the good that he does.
A naturally good or neutral character might be driven to evil through the need to seek revenge, finding evil acts an easy way to accomplish her goals. Another might stray from righteousness and goodness by using evil means to justify good ends. Of course, evil can be self-evident. No one is going to question whether the priest of Cyric is really a good guy at heart; he isn’t—if he were, Cyric wouldn’t grant him any spells. But just because he is evil doesn’t mean he is going to slaughter his companions and steal their treasure at the first opportunity. If evil were really that self-destructive, good wouldn’t have nearly as hard a time combating it.
At the same time, it can be hard to understand what would motivate a person to become evil. It is the rare individual who admits—much less embraces—being evil, and most people consider themselves, if not wholly good, certainly not irredeemably evil. Yet Faerûn is filled with irredeemably evil anti-heroes, gods and monsters. So what is evil?
If you wish to play an evil character, you might act exactly as you would play a good character, except in reverse. Instead of going out to slay the red dragon that has been terrorizing the elf village, you go out to slay the gold dragon that has been terrorizing the orc village. However, if you are going to interact and perhaps adventure with a party of good and neutral characters, you might need to explore your character’s evil nature a little more deeply and try to find out what it is that defines the evil alignment you have chosen for him.
Tradition/There Is No Evil
One potential cause for evil is simply following the norms and standards of your ancestors and society. Evil is defined by society, not by the inherent laws of gods or nature. What might be considered the darkest taboo in one place might be a perfectly acceptable practice somewhere else. For example, slavery is illegal in many parts of Faerûn but is fairly common in Thay, where even a good person might keep a slave or two simply because it is a societal norm. In some regions, the use of narcotics and hallucinogenic drugs is strongly discouraged, while in others it isan integral part of the daily spiritual lives of the people.
Other situations are not so obvious. Sorcery, for example, is forbidden in some regions for no other reason than that the people distrust it. Anyone practicing sorcery in such a place might well be called evil by the region’s judges and sheriffs, while just across the border, sorcery is an honored profession. In civilized lands, violent retribution or revenge is the exclusive domain of the civil or religious authorities. The rule of law is meant to protect the innocent from hasty judgment by a grieving father or angry mob.
If you are harmed and you lash out in retaliation, your actions might be seen to be as evil as the crime you are avenging. But in border regions and lawless areas where a person has to rely on his own devices, personal acts of revenge are the norm and are considered no more evil than an act of self-defense. Evil can often be defined not by an individual’s acts or personal philosophy, but by the culture in which he is acting at the time.
Characters might use this philosophy to justify their actions, and they could very well be correct, depending on their individual circumstances. A half-orc from the Spine of the World or a drow character from the Underdark might have a much more liberal interpretation of what constitutes evil compared to someone from Silverymoon or Cormyr.
In any case, either the player or the DM must assign an alignment to the character, if for no other reason than the fact that alignment plays a critical role in how certain magic works forbiddance spells, or damage reduction that is overcome by a certain kind of aligned weapon, for example. Morally ambiguous characters can be assigned the same alignment as their patron deity, if no other solution presents itself.
I Am Not Evil
Some people recognize that evil exists in the world, but they do not in any way think of themselves as evil, no matter how depraved their actions might be. The Eldreth Veluuthra (discussed on page 78 and further detailed in Lords of Darkness) is a perfect example of an evil organization that thinks its every action is in the service of good.
A character with this philosophy must still be assigned his correct alignment, no matter what he thinks of himself, for the same reasons as characters who believe in the Tradition/There Is No Evil philosophy. Either the player or the DM should assign alignment according to the preponderance of the character’s actions. If he occasionally does good things but most often resorts to evil ends to justify his evil means, he should be given an evil alignment, no matter what his objections.
Evil Curse
The character has become evil through some magical agent—a curse from a god, a disease such as lycanthropy, through contact with an artifact, or another form of powerful magic. In some cases, his outlook with respect to law and chaos does not change. The curse is usually resisted at first, but the longer it is in effect, the more likely it is that the character will give in to the curse’s evil characteristics.
Seduction
The character has been lured with promises of power, glory, wealth, or pleasure into performing evil acts. He is not proud of his actions, but his desire for these rewards outweighs his dislike of what he has become. He might even come to accept his evil nature and relish it. A character can be magically seduced through powerful enchantment spells or by being awed in the presence of an evil god. Seduction differs from an evil curse in that the character is not opposed to what is happening to him. He might not at first even be aware that he is acting in an evil manner, but when he does realize it, he doesn’t seek to change his ways.
Driven to Evil
A character could be driven to evil in several ways. His life or circumstances might have been so harsh that he had to commit evil acts just to survive. He might be seeking retribution for some unimaginable wrong done to him or those he loved. He might
be fighting fire with fire, so to speak, driven to evil just to keep a worse evil at bay.
Unlike the character who doesn’t accept that he is evil, this type of character often doesn’t see himself as truly evil—but he doesn’t deny that what he has done in the past could be taken that way. Often, he has some grandiose intention to make up for what he has done; of course, by that time it might be too late for him to change his ways.
Just Plain Mean
The character is incapable of controlling his violent or anti-social impulses. He might be kind, intelligent, and perfectly capable of completing a task, holding a conversation, and working successfully at a craft. But when something sets him off, there is no telling what he’ll do. There is no way of knowing from one day to the next what will ignite his fury; he usually blames his outbursts on others and doesn’t accept that he has done anything wrong, nor does he feel regret or remorse.
Natural Born Evil
The character has been brought up in a society in which evil is the rule of thumb, and he knows no other way of life. He was born on a battlefield or in an orc den, learned to deceive almost before he learned to talk, and probably committed his first truly vile act before he was ten years old.
This type of evil character is the most likely to undergo an alignment shift once exposed to other cultures. He is also the most likely to hate and fear anything that is different from himself.
Mad, I Tell You
Because of some psychosis, obsession or overpowering phobia, the character is driven to perform acts of incomprehensible evil. Even characters dedicated to the philosophy of evil or to evil gods often find this character’s actions beyond the pale of acceptable behavior. Depending on the nature of the madness, the character could feel remorse for the things he does, but he cannot stop himself from repeating them. Another character might delight in the things he does, or he might not even be aware of what he is doing.
Religions: Depending on the madness and how it manifests, the character might be incapable of participating in organized religion of any type, or he might be a leader of an evil religion or cult. He might even be a patron of a good religion. But underneath he hides a terrible secret, an impulse that drives him to do things that would horrify a demon. On the other hand, some evil religions and organizations could welcome him after discovering his madness so that they can
manipulate him and make use of his particular talents.
Evil Choice
For some reason, the character has chosen to act in an evil manner, one that he admits is evil and for which he feels no remorse. His reasons might be selfish, he might be bent on revenge by any means possible, or he might be driven to complete a task or achieve a goal, and will let nothing stand in his way. On the other hand, he could simply be a sociopath equally capable of acts of extreme good or extreme evil, neither of which move him emotionally or spiritually, and in which he is incapable of seeing any contradiction. Characters of this bent find it easy to conceal their alignment and move about in polite society.
Better to Rule in Hell than Serve in Heaven
This character is actively opposed to good, finds goodness to be repellent in every form, and thinks being good is a sign of weakness of character. He is driven by hate and lust and revels in the thwarting of goodness at every turn.
The Ends Justify the Means
This path follows a slippery slope. The character seeks some greater good, perhaps the overthrow of a heinous villain or the establishment of a good church or organization in the face of adversity; nothing will stop her from achieving this goal, even if she must do evil to accomplish it.
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Sometimes players are going to want to run evil player characters. A single player might want to take on the role of the evil spy or the antihero. A whole group might want a brief change of pace or an entirely new campaign choice. A DungeonMaster should not allow these choices lightly—at least not without considering the implications.
A SINGLE EVIL PC
Go into this territory with your eyes open. The potential for player-versus-player conflict when PCs have opposed alignments becomes very high. This might not be a bad thing. Sometimes, in fact, it’s fun to have a PC “in on it,” working as a spy or agent for the bad guys.
For example, suppose the PCs are heroes determined to stop a blackguard who is intent on creating an evil school for pupils in the dark arts. The blackguard assigns one of his students to join the heroes, pretending to be their ally, so that he can spy on and eventually betray them. The DMand player work out this ahead of time, and the DM tells the player that it’s quite possible that the character will fail. The other characters might find him out or succeed despite his
efforts, but that that’s all part of the fun.
Or suppose a doppelganger replaces a PC. The DMworks with the player to continue playing the character, who is really now a monster with an agenda of its own. The other characters will probably catch on eventually, and perhaps they’ll even locate and rescue the original character. Conversely, a single player may wish to play an evil character with goals similar to, rather than opposing, those of the rest of the group. Now the conflicts between characters are more likely to be philosophical rather than physical. The evil PC will probably have different methods than the rest ofthe characters. If the DM feels that the players will enjoy this sort of conflict, rather than be distracted and annoyed by it, this can be a solid choice for a long-term campaign.
The player of the evil character may even plan for her character to find redemption in the company of heroes, eventually changing her alignment. Such a tale can make for great gaming stories long remembered by all.
AN EVIL PARTY
The Dark Lords of the Prophecy rode into town on jet-black coursers. One sat atop a hellish steed whose breath was sulfurous, and its hooves and eyes burned with dark fire. Everyone knew who they were—and knew the doom that the ancient seers warned they could bring. Shutters slammed shut, and shop doors locked. The dark lords dismounted and strode toward the tavern; woe to the barkeep if he locked the door. While nonstandard, it is not uncommon for a group of players to want to turn the tables for a time and play evil characters. It does not make them bad people, nor does it make them childish. The DM plays evil nonplayer characters (NPCs) all the time, and the DM is generally as mature as the rest of the players. For most players, the choice simply provides a change of pace.
NONHERO CHARACTERS
Most of the time, players who want to play evil characters reject the traditional notion of the hero. They grow weary of the sameness of always being the stalwart adventurers who save the town, rescue the prince, and defeat the evil goblins that threaten the merchant routes through the mountains. They see playing an evil character a way to say no to the simpering mayor asking for help and do as they like instead. Such a group of nonheroes can still partake in most of the adventures that the DM creates. It is merely the motivation for the adventure that has to change. Monetary rewards, revenge, and other personal goals interest nonheroes. They have no interest in altruism, find no motivation in pity, and feel no sympathy for the less fortunate.
ANTIHERO CHARACTERS
A good example of the antihero in fantasy literature is Michael Moorcock’s Elric. This tragic figure is evil, but mostly because of the evil culture from which he comes. Motivated by sympathy for others, and by love, but also by terrible rage and hate, Elric is a complex character. He does good deeds, but he uses evil methods—not to mention the terribly evil artifact sword he wields.
An antihero is not terribly different from a traditional player character. The antihero enjoys the good life and often rails against injustice. But the antihero usually puts himself before others. He freely acts on feelings of vengeance, and he possesses a different moral code from that of a traditional hero—or no code at all. The antihero kills those that get in his way or threaten him. He has no interest in redeeming wrongdoers and seeks no redemption for himself. Players attracted to playing antihero characters want to do the things that other PCs do, but they imagine their character having a real dark side. Some enjoy the unpredictability of the antihero: Will he save the kingdom or destroy it?
VILLAIN CHARACTERS
Some players want to really see what the other side is like. They want to play the characters who instigate the evil plans rather the heroes who react to them. There are two ways to play real villains.
The first is to play them over the top. The player characters are villains who want to conquer the world. They may be evil monsters, even fiends or undead. The players have irony-tinged fun when their characters battle against paladins and good-aligned clerics. Perhaps they even fight NPCs similar to the good characters that they played in previous adventures. Villain characters lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. Rarely is morality questioned in such a campaign, except for one simple rule: Everything turns upside down. What was once considered good is now hated, and everything evil is embraced.
Player characters may take part in acts that are awful or grotesque, but ultimately it’s not taken too seriously. Actual depravity or vile actions are glossed over or occur “offstage.” For example, a villain PC might have an NPC thrown into the dungeons and turned over to a torturer, but the actual torture acts are not part of the game. Often, players in such a game feel oddly satisfied when the campaign comes to an end and the villains they have been playing get what’s coming to them.
The second way to manage a villainous campaign could be called the dark-hearted villain method.These player characters use the rules and suggestions found in this book. It’s not terribly different from the over-the-top method, except that things are taken more seriously. The characters worship demons, destroy souls, take slaves, and face some of the same depraved addictions and fetishes that a NPC villain might face. Many players feel uncomfortable in campaigns like this, obviously. The DM should not use this approach if not all the players want it.
THE EVIL CAMPAIGN
So how does a DM provide interesting adventures for evil player characters? Is running an evil campaign completely different from a normal campaign?
Not really. There’s no reason why evil PCs would not go down into dungeons, explore the ruins of the evil necromancer’s fortress, or fight against the mind flayers attempting to take over the city. The DM can prepare many of the same kinds of adventures for evil characters, but must pay attention to four key differences between an evil campaign and a traditional D&D campaign.
As mentioned above, the largest difference is motivation. Clearly, evil PCs are not going to want to help others. The characters do nothing out of the goodness of their hearts, because their hearts have none. Greed is the primary motivator for evil PCs. A monetary reward gets a group of evil characters going as quickly as any other motivator. In fact, evil PCs are sometimes easier to motivate than good characters because they rarely question whether the patron paying them has sinister motives of her own. Evil PCs simply do not care.
Revenge is also a strong motivator for evil characters. If the DM wants the evil PCs to fight against raiders and brigands, he does not show the terrible wrongs that the raids have wrought against the local communities. Instead, the DM has the brigands attack the evil PCs themselves. Evil PCs are quick to mobilize against an opponent that has wronged them in some way.
Perhaps the best way to motivate evil PCs is to have the players determine what their evil characters actually want. An evil character might want to take over a city, become the most powerful wizard in the land, start an assassins’ guild, or eradicate every lizardfolk in the world. She might have short-term goals as well: decorate her new keep with dragon skulls, obtain a copy of the book of vile darkness, enslave a powerful devil to do her bidding. Evil characters are motivated by desire. Find out what those desires are, and you can design adventures that feed into them.
Another difference between evil campaigns and traditional ones is expectations. If you design a temple in which the evil PCs struggle against troglodyte slavers, do not expect the PCs to treat the troglodytes’ slaves in the same way that good characters would. Evil characters might not give a moment’s thought to the slaves, leaving them to their own fate. Villains might take the slaves for their own or ransom them back to their families.
The third difference is implications. Evil characters commit acts that have consequences. It is far more likely that a group of evil characters will incur the wrath of the local king, the city constabulary, or a nearby order of knighthood that will hunt them down for their crimes. Soon, the places normally considered safe by PCs—namely, towns and cities—are anything but safe. This means that over the long term, evil characters must become self-sufficient. They have to be able to provide their own places to live outside normal, civilized society. They must learn to work outside standard circles, obtain their needed supplies in a different way, and gain information through new channels. Even if the evil PCs work hard to avoid these implications (using disguises, covering up their evil acts, and so on), the very act of disguising their evil is still a point of departure from a traditional campaign.
The last major difference is interactions. Both with NPCs and in particular with each other, evil characters tend to interact poorly in social situations. Players playing evil PCs sometimes overstress their characters’ arrogance or brashness. Such attitudes can get the characters killed rather quickly if they insult the wrong person.
Evil characters often need to learn when arrogance is bad. They can benefit from genteel style and grace now and again. An evil character does not have to be a brute. Villains can of course be sophisticated and polite—when they need to be. Much of this has to do with the role-playing choices the player makes, but all players of evil characters should know that they have a gamut of choices to choose from: sophisticated and suave evil scoundrel, brash and boorish brute, arrogant mastermind, scheming weasel, quiet and ominous killer, and so on.
What brings many evil campaigns to a crashing halt is evil PCs interacting with the other evil PCs in the group. The
characters often turn against one another, and the whole campaign ends in a big fight. That can be fun, but a short
campaign might not be what the DM or the players really had in mind. The DM should try to set up situations that
encourage the player characters—no matter how evil they are—to work together. And if, at the end of the campaign, it
all comes down to PC against PC, well, that might be fun. And it is, after all, an evil campaign.
EVIL VERSUS EVIL
Just because the PCs are evil does not mean that they’re friends with all the villains in the campaign. In fact, the opposite is likely. Rarely is evil a monolithic force that unites all the disparate evil factions and groups. More likely, evil characters find that their goals work at cross purposes with other evil NPCs’ plans. Every time a dastardly malefactor’s plans reach fruition (and, as a result, the forces of good move to oppose him), the evil character probably had to face off against one or more other villains to get there.
You could fill a whole campaign with battles between villainous PCs and equally dastardly foes. An evil setting— such as the dark caverns of the drow—could make this very simple. The PCs know that they cannot really trust anyone, nor can anyone really expect better from them. The evil of the NPCs can overshadow the evil of the PCs, which is good if the players are interested in being antiheroes rather than actual villains.
For some players, fighting against malevolent foes might take some of the squeamishness away from playing an evil character. If the characters do terrible things to despicable beings, it might be more palatable to some players. Of course, the players to whom it makes no difference aren’t bothered either way.
EVIL VERSUS GOOD
Sometimes, it’s fun to have a character try to destroy something that’s obviously good.Waging war against lammasus, unicorns, celestials, and paladins is an ironic turnabout. Bringing ruin to the places and people that normal characters defend makes for unusual adventures. The tables are turned when evil characters face their good counterparts.
The DM runs the heroes and reacts to the actions taken by the villains (the PCs). The players are probably familiar with the habitats, tactics, and outlooks of the foes they face. Only now their characters can use that information to make sinister plans.
In this sort of situation, all that is good is bad. All that is holy is distasteful. That which is wholesome and life affirming is dangerous—these things can threaten and kill an evil character. The light blinds and drives characters away. They find their solace in darkness. The holy smite of the paladin and the holy sword wielded by the planetar are a real danger to the PCs. They are vulnerable to the same things that saved the lives of the good-aligned characters in the last campaign.
As nonevil characters gain levels, they become protectors of those weaker than they are. As evil characters, they can exploit the weak instead as they grow in power. When the PCs become more powerful than anyone in town, they can lord it over the citizens, terrorizing them or conquering them if they choose. Characters and creatures that aid the less fortunate are fools, and their altruism is a weakness to exploit.
EVIL PCS GETTING ALONG
Two evil PCs do not have to come to blows just because they are both evil. Evil characters with similar goals or common foes can certainly work together. And there’s no reason to think that evil characters cannot respect something like friendship. Intelligent evil characters realize, just as nonevil characters do, that they can accomplish more by working together ratherthan working at cross purposes. An evil cleric is better off with an evil fighter companion than alone in the dungeon. An assassin can use the firepower and spells of an evil wizard backing him up.
CONCLUSION
Keep in mind that the fundamental goal of any D&D campaign is the enjoyment of those who take part in it.
A SINGLE EVIL PC
Go into this territory with your eyes open. The potential for player-versus-player conflict when PCs have opposed alignments becomes very high. This might not be a bad thing. Sometimes, in fact, it’s fun to have a PC “in on it,” working as a spy or agent for the bad guys.
For example, suppose the PCs are heroes determined to stop a blackguard who is intent on creating an evil school for pupils in the dark arts. The blackguard assigns one of his students to join the heroes, pretending to be their ally, so that he can spy on and eventually betray them. The DMand player work out this ahead of time, and the DM tells the player that it’s quite possible that the character will fail. The other characters might find him out or succeed despite his
efforts, but that that’s all part of the fun.
Or suppose a doppelganger replaces a PC. The DMworks with the player to continue playing the character, who is really now a monster with an agenda of its own. The other characters will probably catch on eventually, and perhaps they’ll even locate and rescue the original character. Conversely, a single player may wish to play an evil character with goals similar to, rather than opposing, those of the rest of the group. Now the conflicts between characters are more likely to be philosophical rather than physical. The evil PC will probably have different methods than the rest ofthe characters. If the DM feels that the players will enjoy this sort of conflict, rather than be distracted and annoyed by it, this can be a solid choice for a long-term campaign.
The player of the evil character may even plan for her character to find redemption in the company of heroes, eventually changing her alignment. Such a tale can make for great gaming stories long remembered by all.
AN EVIL PARTY
The Dark Lords of the Prophecy rode into town on jet-black coursers. One sat atop a hellish steed whose breath was sulfurous, and its hooves and eyes burned with dark fire. Everyone knew who they were—and knew the doom that the ancient seers warned they could bring. Shutters slammed shut, and shop doors locked. The dark lords dismounted and strode toward the tavern; woe to the barkeep if he locked the door. While nonstandard, it is not uncommon for a group of players to want to turn the tables for a time and play evil characters. It does not make them bad people, nor does it make them childish. The DM plays evil nonplayer characters (NPCs) all the time, and the DM is generally as mature as the rest of the players. For most players, the choice simply provides a change of pace.
NONHERO CHARACTERS
Most of the time, players who want to play evil characters reject the traditional notion of the hero. They grow weary of the sameness of always being the stalwart adventurers who save the town, rescue the prince, and defeat the evil goblins that threaten the merchant routes through the mountains. They see playing an evil character a way to say no to the simpering mayor asking for help and do as they like instead. Such a group of nonheroes can still partake in most of the adventures that the DM creates. It is merely the motivation for the adventure that has to change. Monetary rewards, revenge, and other personal goals interest nonheroes. They have no interest in altruism, find no motivation in pity, and feel no sympathy for the less fortunate.
ANTIHERO CHARACTERS
A good example of the antihero in fantasy literature is Michael Moorcock’s Elric. This tragic figure is evil, but mostly because of the evil culture from which he comes. Motivated by sympathy for others, and by love, but also by terrible rage and hate, Elric is a complex character. He does good deeds, but he uses evil methods—not to mention the terribly evil artifact sword he wields.
An antihero is not terribly different from a traditional player character. The antihero enjoys the good life and often rails against injustice. But the antihero usually puts himself before others. He freely acts on feelings of vengeance, and he possesses a different moral code from that of a traditional hero—or no code at all. The antihero kills those that get in his way or threaten him. He has no interest in redeeming wrongdoers and seeks no redemption for himself. Players attracted to playing antihero characters want to do the things that other PCs do, but they imagine their character having a real dark side. Some enjoy the unpredictability of the antihero: Will he save the kingdom or destroy it?
VILLAIN CHARACTERS
Some players want to really see what the other side is like. They want to play the characters who instigate the evil plans rather the heroes who react to them. There are two ways to play real villains.
The first is to play them over the top. The player characters are villains who want to conquer the world. They may be evil monsters, even fiends or undead. The players have irony-tinged fun when their characters battle against paladins and good-aligned clerics. Perhaps they even fight NPCs similar to the good characters that they played in previous adventures. Villain characters lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. Rarely is morality questioned in such a campaign, except for one simple rule: Everything turns upside down. What was once considered good is now hated, and everything evil is embraced.
Player characters may take part in acts that are awful or grotesque, but ultimately it’s not taken too seriously. Actual depravity or vile actions are glossed over or occur “offstage.” For example, a villain PC might have an NPC thrown into the dungeons and turned over to a torturer, but the actual torture acts are not part of the game. Often, players in such a game feel oddly satisfied when the campaign comes to an end and the villains they have been playing get what’s coming to them.
The second way to manage a villainous campaign could be called the dark-hearted villain method.These player characters use the rules and suggestions found in this book. It’s not terribly different from the over-the-top method, except that things are taken more seriously. The characters worship demons, destroy souls, take slaves, and face some of the same depraved addictions and fetishes that a NPC villain might face. Many players feel uncomfortable in campaigns like this, obviously. The DM should not use this approach if not all the players want it.
THE EVIL CAMPAIGN
So how does a DM provide interesting adventures for evil player characters? Is running an evil campaign completely different from a normal campaign?
Not really. There’s no reason why evil PCs would not go down into dungeons, explore the ruins of the evil necromancer’s fortress, or fight against the mind flayers attempting to take over the city. The DM can prepare many of the same kinds of adventures for evil characters, but must pay attention to four key differences between an evil campaign and a traditional D&D campaign.
As mentioned above, the largest difference is motivation. Clearly, evil PCs are not going to want to help others. The characters do nothing out of the goodness of their hearts, because their hearts have none. Greed is the primary motivator for evil PCs. A monetary reward gets a group of evil characters going as quickly as any other motivator. In fact, evil PCs are sometimes easier to motivate than good characters because they rarely question whether the patron paying them has sinister motives of her own. Evil PCs simply do not care.
Revenge is also a strong motivator for evil characters. If the DM wants the evil PCs to fight against raiders and brigands, he does not show the terrible wrongs that the raids have wrought against the local communities. Instead, the DM has the brigands attack the evil PCs themselves. Evil PCs are quick to mobilize against an opponent that has wronged them in some way.
Perhaps the best way to motivate evil PCs is to have the players determine what their evil characters actually want. An evil character might want to take over a city, become the most powerful wizard in the land, start an assassins’ guild, or eradicate every lizardfolk in the world. She might have short-term goals as well: decorate her new keep with dragon skulls, obtain a copy of the book of vile darkness, enslave a powerful devil to do her bidding. Evil characters are motivated by desire. Find out what those desires are, and you can design adventures that feed into them.
Another difference between evil campaigns and traditional ones is expectations. If you design a temple in which the evil PCs struggle against troglodyte slavers, do not expect the PCs to treat the troglodytes’ slaves in the same way that good characters would. Evil characters might not give a moment’s thought to the slaves, leaving them to their own fate. Villains might take the slaves for their own or ransom them back to their families.
The third difference is implications. Evil characters commit acts that have consequences. It is far more likely that a group of evil characters will incur the wrath of the local king, the city constabulary, or a nearby order of knighthood that will hunt them down for their crimes. Soon, the places normally considered safe by PCs—namely, towns and cities—are anything but safe. This means that over the long term, evil characters must become self-sufficient. They have to be able to provide their own places to live outside normal, civilized society. They must learn to work outside standard circles, obtain their needed supplies in a different way, and gain information through new channels. Even if the evil PCs work hard to avoid these implications (using disguises, covering up their evil acts, and so on), the very act of disguising their evil is still a point of departure from a traditional campaign.
The last major difference is interactions. Both with NPCs and in particular with each other, evil characters tend to interact poorly in social situations. Players playing evil PCs sometimes overstress their characters’ arrogance or brashness. Such attitudes can get the characters killed rather quickly if they insult the wrong person.
Evil characters often need to learn when arrogance is bad. They can benefit from genteel style and grace now and again. An evil character does not have to be a brute. Villains can of course be sophisticated and polite—when they need to be. Much of this has to do with the role-playing choices the player makes, but all players of evil characters should know that they have a gamut of choices to choose from: sophisticated and suave evil scoundrel, brash and boorish brute, arrogant mastermind, scheming weasel, quiet and ominous killer, and so on.
What brings many evil campaigns to a crashing halt is evil PCs interacting with the other evil PCs in the group. The
characters often turn against one another, and the whole campaign ends in a big fight. That can be fun, but a short
campaign might not be what the DM or the players really had in mind. The DM should try to set up situations that
encourage the player characters—no matter how evil they are—to work together. And if, at the end of the campaign, it
all comes down to PC against PC, well, that might be fun. And it is, after all, an evil campaign.
EVIL VERSUS EVIL
Just because the PCs are evil does not mean that they’re friends with all the villains in the campaign. In fact, the opposite is likely. Rarely is evil a monolithic force that unites all the disparate evil factions and groups. More likely, evil characters find that their goals work at cross purposes with other evil NPCs’ plans. Every time a dastardly malefactor’s plans reach fruition (and, as a result, the forces of good move to oppose him), the evil character probably had to face off against one or more other villains to get there.
You could fill a whole campaign with battles between villainous PCs and equally dastardly foes. An evil setting— such as the dark caverns of the drow—could make this very simple. The PCs know that they cannot really trust anyone, nor can anyone really expect better from them. The evil of the NPCs can overshadow the evil of the PCs, which is good if the players are interested in being antiheroes rather than actual villains.
For some players, fighting against malevolent foes might take some of the squeamishness away from playing an evil character. If the characters do terrible things to despicable beings, it might be more palatable to some players. Of course, the players to whom it makes no difference aren’t bothered either way.
EVIL VERSUS GOOD
Sometimes, it’s fun to have a character try to destroy something that’s obviously good.Waging war against lammasus, unicorns, celestials, and paladins is an ironic turnabout. Bringing ruin to the places and people that normal characters defend makes for unusual adventures. The tables are turned when evil characters face their good counterparts.
The DM runs the heroes and reacts to the actions taken by the villains (the PCs). The players are probably familiar with the habitats, tactics, and outlooks of the foes they face. Only now their characters can use that information to make sinister plans.
In this sort of situation, all that is good is bad. All that is holy is distasteful. That which is wholesome and life affirming is dangerous—these things can threaten and kill an evil character. The light blinds and drives characters away. They find their solace in darkness. The holy smite of the paladin and the holy sword wielded by the planetar are a real danger to the PCs. They are vulnerable to the same things that saved the lives of the good-aligned characters in the last campaign.
As nonevil characters gain levels, they become protectors of those weaker than they are. As evil characters, they can exploit the weak instead as they grow in power. When the PCs become more powerful than anyone in town, they can lord it over the citizens, terrorizing them or conquering them if they choose. Characters and creatures that aid the less fortunate are fools, and their altruism is a weakness to exploit.
EVIL PCS GETTING ALONG
Two evil PCs do not have to come to blows just because they are both evil. Evil characters with similar goals or common foes can certainly work together. And there’s no reason to think that evil characters cannot respect something like friendship. Intelligent evil characters realize, just as nonevil characters do, that they can accomplish more by working together ratherthan working at cross purposes. An evil cleric is better off with an evil fighter companion than alone in the dungeon. An assassin can use the firepower and spells of an evil wizard backing him up.
CONCLUSION
Keep in mind that the fundamental goal of any D&D campaign is the enjoyment of those who take part in it.
Hidden: show
So you want to run an evil campaign?
Your players are determined to take the fight to the Harpers for a change, and you’re going to give them what they want. There are many things to consider before doing so, however, such as the style of your campaign, the depths of evil you and your players are prepared to act out or encounter, and how the characters will interact within the party and with the world at large. The following section contains advice for DMs, including advice on how to present evil in your campaign, how to keep a party of evil characters together, and the different goals and methods an evil party might use that would not be part of a normal campaign.
The Tone of Your Game
How evil is the game going to be? This is a question that should be answered by the entire gaming group, since it’s possible to cross boundaries that will make the game unpleasant for one or more players. Even the DM might find that some of the themes explored or specific actions taken by the characters will diminish his enjoyment of the game. The first consideration of any new campaign should be the enjoyment of all involved.
The best thing to do is to sit down with all the players and discuss the level of evil in the campaign, how far the characters will be allowed to go, and even specific actions or situations you might or might not allow. In Book of Vile Darkness, the following acts are considered evil: lying, cheating, theft, betrayal, murder, vengeance, worshiping evil gods and demons, creating and consorting with undead, casting evil spells, damning or harming souls, consorting with fiends, creating evil creatures, using others for personal gain, greed, bullying innocents, bringing despair, and tempting others. Certainly many of those acts are present in a standard campaign, and even good characters could be driven toward them from time to time. But the repeated, deliberate use of many of these is the hallmark of an evil character. They are often the evil character’s first choice rather than his last resort, because committing an evil act can be easier and faster than
acting in a moral way.
You and your players should discuss which of these acts are likely to be present in the campaign, and how obvious they will be. Some players are comfortable with acts such as drug use, outright murder, and fetishes as long as they are presented “offstage”; that is, they happen out of the game session but affect it in some way. Others do not mind the presentation of such acts in character or in the game. It is very important to determine these limits before the campaign begins.
Another consideration is the frequency of evil in your game. If you present too much of it, it can become bland and have less of an impact on the players. After all, if every villain has strange fetish powers and vile, fiendish cohorts, then they become as common as orc chieftains and pickpocketing rogues in standard games. You want to be able to strike the right balance between presenting vile acts and situations and allowing the players to experience the regular world so that they will have some context for the truly vile things they witness. Again, this is a consideration that should take into account each player’s viewpoint and desires.
What the Players Want
Players might want to play an evil campaign for a number of reasons. Some might feel constrained in their actions by playing good or neutral characters, or they might want a change of pace from their normal heroic deeds. It can be fun to turn the tables on the heroes of the setting, to perhaps put a crimp in the Harpers’ plans or help a tribe of orcs smash caravans en route from Silverymoon to Sundabar. Scheming to dominate Faerûn has always been a part of the game—but it’s time to stop letting the villains have all the fun!
There are some warning signs and pitfalls you should try to avoid when running an evil campaign. Players might see this as an opportunity to backstab their fellow players, stealing their treasure and generally making their lives miserable. Unless agreed to beforehand, the presence of one or more players with this in mind can be disruptive and ruin the fun for everyone else. It’s important to strike a balance between the naturally self-serving nature of evil characters and the goals of the party within the campaign. Evil works with evil all the time without falling apart due to internal conflicts, and the characters can still act selfishly without endangering the party or committing treachery against the other characters.
Players who want to play evil characters in order to act out or experiment with their darker curiosities can also be disruptive to the group. This ties in with the overall tone of your game, so all of the players involved should have agreed beforehand to limit character behaviors and player interactions to a level acceptable to all involved.
Why Run an Evil Game?
There are several reasons for both players and DMs to want an evil game. Putting the players in an unfamiliar role can help shake things up and create memorable roleplaying sessions. Evil characters have almost as many options as good ones, but players rarely get to use them in the game. An evil campaign allows players to play priests of Bane, assassins, and evil races such as yuan-ti, orcs, and drow without diluting their true nature. Roleplaying opportunities normally closed to good characters are available in an evil campaign as well. Rather than planning an assault on an evil necromancer’s lair, the characters might hatch a plan to steal an artifact from the king’s treasury, interrupt an agricultural rite that ensures a ripe harvest every year, or counterattack a force that has driven a horde of orcs back toward its home. These different tactical and strategic challenges can add fun and variety to the game.
An evil campaign also opens up rare opportunities for the DM. He can use good monsters as enemies, affording him the opportunity to pit the PCs against gold dragons, celestials, and paladins rather than red dragons, demons, and blackguards. Benevolent creatures are often less active antagonists—they don’t rampage through a village, enslave a town’s children, or any of the other nasty things evil creatures do. Players of evil characters can formulate their own plots, determining how to act against normal society to further their own goals.
In addition, good-aligned NPCs provide a roleplaying challenge to the DM—maniacal overlords and necromantic wizards are replaced by law-abiding paladins and good adventurers out to stop the PCs’ plots. The DM still plays nonplayer characters as antagonists, but their demeanor and methods are often antithetical to the normal selection of villains.
Keeping it Fun for Everyone
All of the above advice is geared toward one goal—keeping the game fun for the DM and the players. It takes a bit of foresight and work to pull off an evil game. You must decide before the campaign how far you and the players are willing to go in portraying evil characters. In preparing for the game, you must look to monsters that aren’t normally thought of as villains and figure out how to make them into interesting antagonists, albeit sometimes good-aligned ones. Then, during the game, the DM and players must keep the party together even while they might be working toward selfish goals using any means possible to achieve them. The potential rewards are great, however—your game might find a freshness it has been lacking, while your players enjoy the new challenges they face as champions of ruin.
Your players are determined to take the fight to the Harpers for a change, and you’re going to give them what they want. There are many things to consider before doing so, however, such as the style of your campaign, the depths of evil you and your players are prepared to act out or encounter, and how the characters will interact within the party and with the world at large. The following section contains advice for DMs, including advice on how to present evil in your campaign, how to keep a party of evil characters together, and the different goals and methods an evil party might use that would not be part of a normal campaign.
The Tone of Your Game
How evil is the game going to be? This is a question that should be answered by the entire gaming group, since it’s possible to cross boundaries that will make the game unpleasant for one or more players. Even the DM might find that some of the themes explored or specific actions taken by the characters will diminish his enjoyment of the game. The first consideration of any new campaign should be the enjoyment of all involved.
The best thing to do is to sit down with all the players and discuss the level of evil in the campaign, how far the characters will be allowed to go, and even specific actions or situations you might or might not allow. In Book of Vile Darkness, the following acts are considered evil: lying, cheating, theft, betrayal, murder, vengeance, worshiping evil gods and demons, creating and consorting with undead, casting evil spells, damning or harming souls, consorting with fiends, creating evil creatures, using others for personal gain, greed, bullying innocents, bringing despair, and tempting others. Certainly many of those acts are present in a standard campaign, and even good characters could be driven toward them from time to time. But the repeated, deliberate use of many of these is the hallmark of an evil character. They are often the evil character’s first choice rather than his last resort, because committing an evil act can be easier and faster than
acting in a moral way.
You and your players should discuss which of these acts are likely to be present in the campaign, and how obvious they will be. Some players are comfortable with acts such as drug use, outright murder, and fetishes as long as they are presented “offstage”; that is, they happen out of the game session but affect it in some way. Others do not mind the presentation of such acts in character or in the game. It is very important to determine these limits before the campaign begins.
Another consideration is the frequency of evil in your game. If you present too much of it, it can become bland and have less of an impact on the players. After all, if every villain has strange fetish powers and vile, fiendish cohorts, then they become as common as orc chieftains and pickpocketing rogues in standard games. You want to be able to strike the right balance between presenting vile acts and situations and allowing the players to experience the regular world so that they will have some context for the truly vile things they witness. Again, this is a consideration that should take into account each player’s viewpoint and desires.
What the Players Want
Players might want to play an evil campaign for a number of reasons. Some might feel constrained in their actions by playing good or neutral characters, or they might want a change of pace from their normal heroic deeds. It can be fun to turn the tables on the heroes of the setting, to perhaps put a crimp in the Harpers’ plans or help a tribe of orcs smash caravans en route from Silverymoon to Sundabar. Scheming to dominate Faerûn has always been a part of the game—but it’s time to stop letting the villains have all the fun!
There are some warning signs and pitfalls you should try to avoid when running an evil campaign. Players might see this as an opportunity to backstab their fellow players, stealing their treasure and generally making their lives miserable. Unless agreed to beforehand, the presence of one or more players with this in mind can be disruptive and ruin the fun for everyone else. It’s important to strike a balance between the naturally self-serving nature of evil characters and the goals of the party within the campaign. Evil works with evil all the time without falling apart due to internal conflicts, and the characters can still act selfishly without endangering the party or committing treachery against the other characters.
Players who want to play evil characters in order to act out or experiment with their darker curiosities can also be disruptive to the group. This ties in with the overall tone of your game, so all of the players involved should have agreed beforehand to limit character behaviors and player interactions to a level acceptable to all involved.
Why Run an Evil Game?
There are several reasons for both players and DMs to want an evil game. Putting the players in an unfamiliar role can help shake things up and create memorable roleplaying sessions. Evil characters have almost as many options as good ones, but players rarely get to use them in the game. An evil campaign allows players to play priests of Bane, assassins, and evil races such as yuan-ti, orcs, and drow without diluting their true nature. Roleplaying opportunities normally closed to good characters are available in an evil campaign as well. Rather than planning an assault on an evil necromancer’s lair, the characters might hatch a plan to steal an artifact from the king’s treasury, interrupt an agricultural rite that ensures a ripe harvest every year, or counterattack a force that has driven a horde of orcs back toward its home. These different tactical and strategic challenges can add fun and variety to the game.
An evil campaign also opens up rare opportunities for the DM. He can use good monsters as enemies, affording him the opportunity to pit the PCs against gold dragons, celestials, and paladins rather than red dragons, demons, and blackguards. Benevolent creatures are often less active antagonists—they don’t rampage through a village, enslave a town’s children, or any of the other nasty things evil creatures do. Players of evil characters can formulate their own plots, determining how to act against normal society to further their own goals.
In addition, good-aligned NPCs provide a roleplaying challenge to the DM—maniacal overlords and necromantic wizards are replaced by law-abiding paladins and good adventurers out to stop the PCs’ plots. The DM still plays nonplayer characters as antagonists, but their demeanor and methods are often antithetical to the normal selection of villains.
Keeping it Fun for Everyone
All of the above advice is geared toward one goal—keeping the game fun for the DM and the players. It takes a bit of foresight and work to pull off an evil game. You must decide before the campaign how far you and the players are willing to go in portraying evil characters. In preparing for the game, you must look to monsters that aren’t normally thought of as villains and figure out how to make them into interesting antagonists, albeit sometimes good-aligned ones. Then, during the game, the DM and players must keep the party together even while they might be working toward selfish goals using any means possible to achieve them. The potential rewards are great, however—your game might find a freshness it has been lacking, while your players enjoy the new challenges they face as champions of ruin.
Hidden: show
Imagine if the Evil aligned PCs gathered into one or more organizations. An Adventuring Company. Obviously illegal or criminal in nature, but see, because we are PCs we are all the best in each of our respective areas. As an evil adventuring company, you can have evil an campaign/adventures. In theory, some of them will be around the same lvl and so those in the adventuring company can run quests for the group.
The idea is, that groups can be self-directed. "Bad guys" tend to make things happen rather than simply react to them -not that they cant look for jobs offered by undead, outsiders, carry out asassinations, etc -but the group can decide on something they want to do collectively, and one person will volunteer to run at least a one-shot based around that concept. Together, a group will achieve their individual, personal goals as well as group objectives. Eventually, they will all become powerful in their respective areas of interest or expertiese, with their own strongholds/guildhouses/hideouts/lairs/etc and people underneath them-but as the leaders they will remain a group in a kind of "illuminati" or supergroup, whether their individual operations or activities have a public front.
Now of course, being Evil, this means that the groups sense of "morality" allows them to do many things other adventurers would not. People sometimes remark of evil campaigns "oh, everyone will try to backstab each other right off the bat- or if not it's inevitable". It's true that rivalries may develop, and that some characters will only be out for themselves, and indeed "some men just want to watch the world burn" but even then that doesnt imply Stupid Evil/Chaotic Stupid alignments. If the group is actually benefitting them, killing off others in the group for short term gains probably isnt the smartest thing to do. THAT ASIDE -consider that IRL "evil" people work together all the time (not that they dont kill each other too) to accomplish things bigger than themselves. Evil characters are NOT 1-dimensional, it's possible to be evil and simultaneously have actual friends, family, lovers, and "associates"; they arent necessarily complete monsters, but for whatever reason they have chosen to live as they do, and believe they are justified in doing so (whether that be philosophical, or even as simple as might-makes-right). It's easy for people to think in an insular manner, seeing some as "the other" who is not "one of us" and treating them completely differently and exploiting them, than those who are part of the same ethnic mafia family, fundamentalist religion, radical group, pirate ship crew, whatever etc, etc.
This is one reason why it would be good for the Evil Adventuring company to start off at lvl 1, when they are just begining their careers so to speak. If they begin as a "gang" of sorts, by the time they grow into a criminal empire, they will have built up some sense of familiarity, solidarity, and even camraderie in their (albeit evil) exploits. If they band together at a higher level, this will not have as much between them. The bonds of time and experience are thicker than blood.
The idea is, that groups can be self-directed. "Bad guys" tend to make things happen rather than simply react to them -not that they cant look for jobs offered by undead, outsiders, carry out asassinations, etc -but the group can decide on something they want to do collectively, and one person will volunteer to run at least a one-shot based around that concept. Together, a group will achieve their individual, personal goals as well as group objectives. Eventually, they will all become powerful in their respective areas of interest or expertiese, with their own strongholds/guildhouses/hideouts/lairs/etc and people underneath them-but as the leaders they will remain a group in a kind of "illuminati" or supergroup, whether their individual operations or activities have a public front.
Now of course, being Evil, this means that the groups sense of "morality" allows them to do many things other adventurers would not. People sometimes remark of evil campaigns "oh, everyone will try to backstab each other right off the bat- or if not it's inevitable". It's true that rivalries may develop, and that some characters will only be out for themselves, and indeed "some men just want to watch the world burn" but even then that doesnt imply Stupid Evil/Chaotic Stupid alignments. If the group is actually benefitting them, killing off others in the group for short term gains probably isnt the smartest thing to do. THAT ASIDE -consider that IRL "evil" people work together all the time (not that they dont kill each other too) to accomplish things bigger than themselves. Evil characters are NOT 1-dimensional, it's possible to be evil and simultaneously have actual friends, family, lovers, and "associates"; they arent necessarily complete monsters, but for whatever reason they have chosen to live as they do, and believe they are justified in doing so (whether that be philosophical, or even as simple as might-makes-right). It's easy for people to think in an insular manner, seeing some as "the other" who is not "one of us" and treating them completely differently and exploiting them, than those who are part of the same ethnic mafia family, fundamentalist religion, radical group, pirate ship crew, whatever etc, etc.
This is one reason why it would be good for the Evil Adventuring company to start off at lvl 1, when they are just begining their careers so to speak. If they begin as a "gang" of sorts, by the time they grow into a criminal empire, they will have built up some sense of familiarity, solidarity, and even camraderie in their (albeit evil) exploits. If they band together at a higher level, this will not have as much between them. The bonds of time and experience are thicker than blood.
But there has to be something, and at least once and a while, it needs to be substantial. The result of that, in my opinion, is that Players of Evil will be taken more seriously amongst the entirely of the Community, and, that will trickle down into actual IC actions/reactions/RP.
I give credit to where I sourced much of this material.
