Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Evil is tricky to play, but fun and rewarding when done well. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to pull off for many people, myself included.

Recently, I was watching one of my favorite movies, Reservoir Dogs. As the characters were sitting around the table at the diner, just chatting, I realized something: Each of these guys would be considered Evil by D&D standards (except maybe one*).
* This is a 25-year-old movie. If you haven't seen it by now, you deserve spoilers.

CAUTION: THIS MOVIE CLIP IS RATED R. (I tried to find a censored version, but I couldn't find one. Please be advised!)

YOUTUBE: =======================================================

The Cop is the one exception, and it's a maybe at best.

THE CREW:

Watching these guys sit around that table, I thought: None of these guys are menacing or causing people to run in terror. None of them are acting any differently than you or I might at that same diner. Every character here is completely human.

The Boss is clearly the leader, and clearly has control of the situation, but Mr. White is able to take his book, without much effort, and hold it at his discretion. Boss demands his book back, takes care of other business, and otherwise doesn't worry about it. Because he's The Boss: he's in charge, and everyone knows it. He takes a heckling without going off the rails because he knows that, in the end, he's still The Boss. (LE, maybe LN, depending on whose side you're on.)

Mr. Pink is much more of a jittery character, though still in control. The other characters clearly see this in him, and even give him some jibes about it, but he still takes it in stride. He thinks he knows what's going on, and that's good enough for him. Mr. Pink is ultimately out to save his own skin, as seen in later scenes, but he's also not afraid to give some details about his personality (e.g. the tipping). Even though he knows it will only give him more grief from the others, he sticks to his code, even if it's wrong, or flies in the face of society. (NE)

Mr. Blonde has his s**t together, despite being a total madman. He has very strong opinions about what will benefit the group (which he is only involved in for his own personal gain), but he only speaks when he feels it is necessary. He won't take any insult to his personal power, even if he shows this through "playful" conflict. Inside, he is a twisted maniac that delights in seeing the suffering of others, but mostly the suffering of a particular group of people that he holds above others: cops. In later scenes, this turns out to be his greatest strength, and also his downfall. (CE, hands down.)

Mr. Orange (The Cop) is way in over his head, but he's committed to the role, and he wants to see it through. He is even ready to commit armed robbery -- even murder the people he is ultimately trying to protect to keep his charade in tact, to his own detriment. This commitment ultimately gets him killed, but even as he lay dying on the floor, he only gives up the truth of the matter at the very end, to Mr. White. (LE/LN)

Mr. White is clearly a veteran at this game; he's the oldest member of the group (save, perhaps, The Boss), and that demands a certain reverence from the others, even from Mr. Blonde. Even from The Boss. That lets him get away with a lot more (socially) than a younger member might, and his experience shows it. He is able to make demands of the others that a less experienced man would be able to, and the others listen, to an extent -- he is even able to make Mr. Pink pause and reconsider his own selfish plan, at least for a while. Mr. White is out for himself -- he joined The Crew as that "one last job" to get himself set up for his "retirement" from The Game. It is only his betrayal by a person whom he thought was a close, personal friend and confidante that causes him to fall apart. (NE/LE)

Nice Guy is the son of The Boss, and his power is derived from him. The Boss casts a long shadow, and the Nice Guy is riding that to the utmost: he is in charge only so far as his father is (when The Boss isn't around). His authority is only as strong as the rest of the character's faith in The Boss, and when that faith erodes quickly toward the end of the film, he takes truly desperate measures to try to secure it. You can see him struggle with this in the final scenes. He is also fiercely loyal to his father, and quickly casts aside any previous loyalty to the crew as soon as The Boss' authority is called into question. (NE)


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So we can see from these characters, and how they interact, that Evil doesn't need to be played as simplistically as the D&D books would have one believe. In fact, Evil is rather nuanced, and should better be defined as a lack of pity or remorse (which, in real life, is rather common). This plays out in the responses of The Crew to their situation: they have been assaulted by the forces of law and "good" (though, it could be easily argued that some of the cops off-screen are not "good" characters, but that is beside the point), and they react in different ways, each to his nature (e.g. alignment).

Mr. Pink thinks that the remaining successful Crew members should take the money and run -- bail on the whole plan. He's looking out for himself, and anyone else willing to do the same.

Mr. White thinks they should stick to the plan to the bitter end, and has faith that The Boss will come to rescue them.

Mr. Blonde goes way off the rails, kidnaps a policeman (for the "fun" of it), and decides that torturing a low-ranking Lawful official will get them the information they want -- or not, because in the end, he doesn't really care; he just really wants to hurt someone he views as an enemy.

The Boss and The Nice Guy show up toward the end, and do not like what they see. The plan is in shambles, and their Crew is turning on one another. Tensions rise, and bad things happen when their authority is called into question, but only really escalates when they try to enforce that authority.

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So, in the end, what I'd like to leave you all with is that scene in the diner, before everything in their lives spiraled out of control. Please, go watch this film. If you've seen it before, watch it again. If you've never seen it, GET THE F OUT OF THE UNDERDARK. (Just kidding, you really need to see it!) I want you to see these characters as people with strengths and flaws, but mostly as people that you could relate to. The D&D books paint the Drow in particular as an entire society of Magnificent Bastards, but that is only one, singular archetype in an entire society of intelligent people, with strengths and flaws of their own. We can't all play the Magnificent Bastard, so we should work to broaden our ideas on what Evil really looks like. Sometimes it is selfish, and self-serving: jealousy, hate, bigotry. Other times it is completely selfless, but for the wrong reasons. Evil is a spectrum -- a Dark Rainbow, and if our painting of Evil is to look like anything, we need all the colors.

Thank you.

~ DFM

Thank you! Another who thinks of evil as I do!

Well written, and I agree with all you wrote. Evil is a dark rainbow.

They are a group of bandits

So come on lads make em bandits and start mugging and robbing stuff!

The Cop is the one exception, and it's a maybe at best.

The cop is the worst of them all. The thieves have a code of honor they stand by. Yet Mister Orange is willing to screw them all over for his own agenda. Let us also not forget that when push come to shove he shoot an innocent woman to save himself.

This movie clip is rated R:

Totally agree, Creo. It's what makes his betrayal to Mr. White in the end so poignant. In that momenr, I really feel bad for Mr. White!

Orange is who I was talking about when I said: "doing the right thing for the wrong reasons". What I had actually meant to type was "Doing the wrong (evil) thing for the right reasons".


EDIT: Also, I disagree that Orange shot that lady out of selfishness. Remember, he's a trained police officer in deep cover. When someone pulls a gun on a cop, their training kicks in. He didn't think about the act, he pointed and neutralized a threat. You can see his reaction of total shock and disbelief immediately afterward, as he wrestles with what he'd just done. He knows he tried to commit a crime, and got shot in the process, and responded in the worst way. He's fully aware that he just ruined a family, and he feels awful about it.

Like your post DFM, think one of the misconceptions about evil is to think that evil people think of themselves as evil people.

It's not that they sit around thinking about what evil they can do next to terrorize their surroundings.

Also the magnificent bastard needs people to bow before him to shine! So go ahead and bow!!!

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...

Nitpicky addition:

FR aligments are not matters of viewpoint, but more or less a checklist style of system, with a few exceptions, and of course leeway for DM judgement. Related to:

LE, maybe LN, depending on whose side you're on.

. An evil person can very much fight for an overall "good cause" (the typical "for the greater good" type of LE).

Not Nitpicky comment:

Overall, an interesting read, altough, when it comes to morality, and interesting read could be the "The Brothers Karamazov" from F.M.Dostoyevsky, and in that the "The Grand Inquisitor" part.

But, all in all, remember that FR's morality, is more or less objective, unlike IRL morality, which is subjective. However, comparing the two does not make too much of a sense really. It is apples and oranges.

Just my personal opinion, however.

I play a high majority of evil and this is what i do. I create a motivation and a reason for it all. none of my evil toons are RAHH!! BLOOD!! they are complex with desires and REASONS to be evil. personalities that make actions or inaction. even a mass murderer or serial killer has reasons for it all. if you peek into the mind you discover the twists and turns that put evil in motion. this is why playing evil is so much fun for me. i like the complex and difficult choices that go along with the excitement of being evil in a good/neutral world.

Lunulata- is evil because she is so disciplined that she will carry out any order to further the ideals of an ancient culture that promotes segregation and "backwoods" thinking. she has no value for life. she respects leadership and HER culture. lawful to the point of extreme evil.

Rue- is evil because she cannot see that bad things just happen. that some people make choices that can hurt her. even when these choices were made for a greater good. she gives blame to people for situations that had little to do with the tragedies in her life. she wants to right the wrongs of her life, but in doing so, started herself down a path that twisted her mind more and more. twisted to the point of clouding right and wrong, because what "feels" right is corrupted by this lack of perspective. made worse now that she has an outside influence that pushes her further and further into darkness.

Khar- Her teaching of Grummsh have developed into a fanatical desire to appease him. this coupled with pride in the extreme has turned her into a butcher and and a rebel. this is made worse by an identity crisis. she is a female but wants to be a male. she thinks that a male is a higher order and struggles with low self image that is further convoluted by pretending to be male. this is in direct conflict with her intense pride. her pride and devotion say what she thinks is the best way and all else will cause pain and misery from the hateful hands of grummsh. that he controls life and death in such a way that to not be in constant sacrifice to him is to doom you and everything you know. this was made even stronger when her clan was wiped out by the greedy hands of the good races. she twists this as a teaching moment to her (the survivor) from grummsh. that now she must spread these teachings or suffer a fate worse than death. while she believes that all races are under this standard from the great and powerful grummsh, she is focused on uniting the orcs of this region under this standard.

so yea. evil is not about being just evil. it is a whole story. its motivations and experiences that make it. to me, it is more fun. and its not always black and white.

I found this clip to represent an evil genius fairly well.

I've found these video series fun to watch and quite good.

Tantive wrote:

I've found these video series fun to watch and quite good.

That video is very focused on pnp group play if you ask me although the idea of playing a good character while being a bad guy is of course the right one out of many reasons, in the UD this is only partly true.

If you play a truely good character in the UD you're doing it wrong if you ask me. The lesser races(non-drow) should be somewhat obedient to the drow but even they shouldn't be to friendly at all.

The drow should treat each other according to their respective ranks in society, so if you think you're above someone you should let them know, if you're not sure better tread carefully and if they're above your rank be the sweetest pie you can be .

At least that's my take on it for UD.

As drow of course the lesser races are below you but how you treat them is kind of up to you, although I think disrespect should at least be frowned upon.

For the Surface I'd say the video is pretty golden... You don't want to spoil you're evil though so treating npcs badly when around PCs seems like a bad idea.

Well maybe that's just for the evil genius, if you just wanna be evil without finesse you can of course treat npcs as you please I suppose.

Evil can join and help the good guys now and then, they are also just as likely to fight against the main villian as well. Usually this happens when a chaotic evil villain becomes such a nuisance to everyone that even the lawful evil, and neutral evil villains decide enough is enough and that the good guys are right in wanting chaotic evil dude dead. Or if one villain tries to kill the other villain or harm those that the other villain cares about.

Evil can and does fight evil... as a wise elemental once said: "Sometimes you should fight evil with a different kind of evil".

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