Roleplaying as Evil

[Okahey]

With the fact that this is a multi-character server (something I am not overly enamoured with, but it would work in your favour this time) you could do a Moriaty.

Characters all working for a mastermind. The beauty of this approach is that if one character is found out and forced to "die" - you haven't lost overall progress.

Strictly speaking Moriaty doesn't even need to be a character - or could be a pleasant fire-sitter that everyone loves. They just have to be super smart, bored and amoral.

You could then get people (good and evil adventurers) to do tasks for you. Something as simple as having them give someone a note to expose a secret (with a note delivered to the secret holder early asking for blackmail perhaps?) Or as much as hiring adventurers to kill the orc chief and leave a token - the RP here would be to give players a reason to get xp and loot, but also to send a message to the orc (or other group of monsters etc) tribe that they should be working for you, not against. The characters don't need to know why they are delivering the "message". [I get 1000gp for dropping this black rose on the orc chief after I take his head? Okay crazy rich man, sure ...]

Some of this would require DM attention, but a lot could be achieved without needing anything. All at relatively low risk until your mastermind gets enough attention to encourage a concerted effort to find him. Remember the usual tropes - a character being caught as evil and outed or killed won't automatically lead to the mastermind - they were contacted through dead drops, or the only had a name; the man was masked and shrouded in magic etc etc. When you want to (or with DC checks) start dribbling clues. The characters don't need to (and shouldn't) be doing every evil act at the masterminds request; they have their own motivations too. The characters could even be good ones who have been leveraged by the mastermind through various means (obvious tropes of family being kidnapped/threatened. Maybe they have even been killed but their souls are trapped in limbo - fantasy opens up tonnes of options) to do evil acts, or one grand evil act.

This is all only a half formed idea, and you would need to be careful to avoid cheesing and deus ex machina, but it would help solve the issue of "my evil character got caught doing evil once and now XX amount of hours is completely ruined".

Just some thoughts on an alternate form of evil storyline RP. Done right you will be the boogey man the server talks about for years.

[Wolfrayne]

Just some thoughts on an alternate form of evil storyline RP. Done right you will be the boogey man the server talks about for years.

That is pretty much the goal, it just seems that the server is aimed against these kind of people (mostly due to anti griefing which is fair enough, too bad some people just ruin it for others!)

[ohboy007]

Just some thoughts on an alternate form of evil storyline RP. Done right you will be the boogey man the server talks about for years.

That is pretty much the goal, it just seems that the server is aimed against these kind of people (mostly due to anti griefing which is fair enough, too bad some people just ruin it for others!)

I think Fael was a great boogeyman. He just got better as time went on until finally he had to leave the server unfortunately. He was not only loved by the baddies, but by the good guys as well because they appreciated his vile ways as a character concept. Every evil character should aspire to fill that roll IMO. And that guy got flayed, burnt, incinerated, and cut into many pieces. And yet the PM survived because he always had some shady friend on the sideline to bail him out the few times he was caught.

As for consent, it's actually not that hard most the time. As long as you give the player the impression that they are apart of a cool story, and not a WoW teabagging session, you can get a lot of cooperation. Most people want to be involved in a high stakes game. Players can even setup IC financial incentives that don't rely solely on death or even combat per say. Best thing is to make friend with players and I find it easier to RP the characters even if confrontation leads to PvP. Some of my best IC sparring partners are my friends OOC.

[Okahey]

That is pretty much the goal, it just seems that the server is aimed against these kind of people (mostly due to anti griefing which is fair enough, too bad some people just ruin it for others!)

With the mastermind approach any character you lose to the anti-griefing issue still adds to your overall storyline (and indeed enhances it). Having a character outed and caught/killed is then a great thing for your RP.

Also the idea of getting people to deliver messages can't be seen as griefing. Unfortunately this idea would eventually need DM support, something I am loathe to build around, but you (or someone else) might be different. Granted this may appear a little more power hungry than evil, but if done right you could end up controlling some or all of the monster populations on the server. Of course other bad guys would come along wanting to unseat you, but then you could just sic your good aligned heroes onto them - after all they are clearly evil dragon/lich/illithid etc. Having good characters work to keep evil in power (knowingly or unknowingly) sounds pretty cool to me. Tough to pull off though.

Anyway, the point of the initial post was that having a character outed due to the anti-griefing rules would be a good thing if you set up your overall story right.

[Hoihe]

Problem with masterminding on your own account...

You cannot tell/interact with other characters of yours on the same account. It's weird enough for a player to hear about another character, let alone interact.

Mules/merchants are somewhat of an exception to this rule, but they are rarely considered In-play characters, and the fact they're in-game can help with asking other players to help with muling.

[Okahey]

Problem with masterminding on your own account...

You cannot tell/interact with other characters of yours on the same account. It's weird enough for a player to hear about another character, let alone interact.

Mules/merchants are somewhat of an exception to this rule, but they are rarely considered In-play characters, and the fact they're in-game can help with asking other players to help with muling.

Dead drops.

A person of this calibre would never meet the people they are giving tasks to anyway. It is a stupid level of risk. They would be setting up dead drops (through taverns, locations etc) or sending magical messages etc.

All this can be done by one person on one account (and as I said you would be aiming for it to include other people anyway, your extraneous characters would only be used to get the ball rolling and nudge the story they way you wanted). Your mastermind leaves a message at a hidden spot, the client picks it up. Or you leave a coded message with a bartender in a seedy pub and the client gets it. These two (and there are more options) are better because it allows for the message to be intercepted, or for the bar tender to be leaned on. Less cheesy that way.

Of course in this world magic exists and it would be reasonable to assume some or all messages are going to be passed via magic message. If you were going to go this route I would let the DMs know - and make sure they agree - so that if someone wanted to try and use magical means to trace them it is possible.

It is just a way to allow the anti-griefing rules to work for you instead of against; while still allowing everyone to hopefully have fun.

The main issue I see would be the pacing - it would be hard to start getting the ball rolling. Of course ... you could always set a bounty on yourself. That would get people to start looking and it isn't like you will have to pay it after you are dead ... ...

[NeOmega]

Perhaps DM's should assist with RCR'ng a permadeathed character, and xferring their gear to a new evil character.

I don't even know what is going to happen to my CE guy, but he had to attack the paladin blessing the ruins of Bane. He couldn't let that slide, especially since he worshiped Bane.

That was a month ago, and I haven't really cared to play him since... ..although that day he had finally reached the level where he could try on the boots of the sun soul +4 he had been holding for a month or two IRL.

The server needs more evil.

It would also be so damn cool if some characters could get an "ignore" function for certain hostiles. It would be so fun to have a cleric of Malor that was ignored by minotaurs, or a tradeway bandit build that would not get attacked by other tradeway bandits, just to add some extra PvP twists to regular dungeon grinds.

Because then you could do what I've wished I could do... make low level evil characters to rob and loot on the tradeway, (and give up goodies when defeated) and help protect the lizardmen or animals or whatever else.

One of the problems with chaotic evil is they don't even team up with anyone well usually. At least lawful evil can team up with other lawful evil for evil machinations. Chaotic evil tend to want to kill his or her allies as well.

[Xanfyrst]

The server needs more evil.

I assume you mean open evil?

Because there's plenty of hidden evil around.

[Passiflora]

More than people think. WAY more.

[burbles]

It reminds me of Demons vs Devils endless struggle if you get my meaning. I'll go PnP to play Evil, less frustration that way

[c2k]

How I played my evil character:

1. Avoid all the "hotspots" and "hubs". Nothing makes a mockery of an evil character than hanging around there "Heroes".

2. Find remote spots on the server for safe havens.

3. Plot who or what will be the target of your evil acts. Most evil characters here have no short term goals or true motives for their evil ways.

4. Be aware of players that are only playing this to win. They are usually sore losers and are usually unable to play along in the event you get the better of them.

5. Never be afraid to ask a DM for guidance and/or assistance. Sometimes, it is the cleanest way to accomplish goals.

Those 5 I feel are the most important.

[ohboy007]

Pssh, more evil.... We got over 20 chaotic, neutral, and lawful evil characters types in just our group alone and with more pouring in. The Zhents and Red Wizards have a decent share themselves I assume. I run my character along the roads when she's not busy and talk/pickup all kinds of evil people. It's like its the new flavor of the week now!

[Storm Munin]

Roll a normal drow.. done, no hassle.

[Simian]

Roll a normal drow.. done, no hassle.

Except that the city Down Under is not quite your regular Drow city. Male Mages Rule, Priestess of Lolth Drool.

[Wolfrayne]

yes yes i know there is evil around but im talking the kind of evil that people KNOW is evil yet have no way to prove it! Someone who is cunning enough to seem like they are doing good but in actual fact they are pure evil.

As my character is a follower of Shar she refuses to be openly "evil" she may not be moraly correct however she knows not do something openly evil in front of a paladin, she would rather twist the paladin in to thinking she was right and convince him to perform the evil!