The Path of Evil

It is a sad fact of gaming that sometimes the players within a gaming group play their characters as complete sociopaths. In such cases, they see the whole world surrounding the characters as little more than sources of XPs and loot, and their interaction even with NPCs they were supposed to deal peacefully with can rapidly go downhill as long as the PCs see the opportunity for more loot.

This is not necessary the sign of deep character flaws on the part of the players. People new to gaming often start out this way, and even more "experienced" gamers might act like this if they haven't had a good DM to show them the way. Still, this state of affairs is generally unsatisfactory to most DMs, as just providing a steady stream of encounters without any real plot development is, at least in my opinion, a deeply tedious and boring affair (if you actually enjoy this, then read no further and I wish the best of luck to you and your gaming group). So what's a frustrated DM to do to change this?

Simply acquiescing and giving the players what they want is a bad idea in such a case. Sure, entertaining the players is part of the job of the DM. But think about it - as the DM, you are putting far more work into the campaign than any of your players. You deserve to be at least as entertained by the antics of the player characters as the players are entertained by your campaign. So you need to teach them a lesson - show, not tell them why the behavior of their characters is a bad idea. Trust me, there is plenty of entertainment to be had here - and along the way, your players might start enjoying the act of role-playing as well, and thus enjoy the game without engaging in sociopathy.

However, many DMs fall into the trap of making such "lessons" rather heavy-handed. For example, if the PCs have robbed a tax collector in the middle of a a forest, the militia in the next village will somehow magically know everything about the incident. And they will be led by a 20th paladin for some reason.

Avoid such immediate and excessive reprisals for misbehavior at all costs. These kinds of punishments might work for puppies (and PARANOIA campaigns), but less so for D&D campaigns. They are widely implausible (as in most cases of railroading), and they will only cause the players to see the world not as a "real" place with "real" people to interact with, but as a stage made out of cardboard with NPCs as marionettes which only exist as mouthpieces for the opinions of the DM. In other words, this will only reinforce their view that the game is all about "the PC against the world" - or rather, "the players against the DM". And all role-playing in such a world would be pointless.

You don't want to be seen as their enemy. The message you want to send is that they are their own worst enemy - and thus, maybe, change their behavior. For this, you need to give them enough rope to hang themselves. This only works if they believe that their actions have real, meaningful consequences for the campaign at large - so you need to empower the player characters enough to make their actions meaningful. But how do you do that?

Read on. And bring plenty of rope.

Stage 1: Free Lunch

If you notice that the player characters may have sociopathic tendencies, don't try to take away their opportunities for amoral behavior. This way, these tendencies might be repressed, but they won't be cured.

Instead, offer them opportunities to indulge in such activities. Stage plausible incidents which seemingly allow them to cheat, murder, and steal without any immediate consequences. Make them choose between doing the right thing and the easy thing, and allow them to profit handsomely from the latter.

At the same time, drop hints that their actions do not occur in a vacuum. For example, if they murder another adventuring party in cold blood that had just emerged from a dungeon with lots of loot, the leader of the militia back in town may ask them if they had seen the other party, "since they left in the same direction." But if they lie about this, don't press the issue. Make them think that they have successfully evaded the consequences for their action and that they are free to enjoy their immoral spoils. Watch as they mock the blindness of those around them.

And say nothing. But take notes of every immoral act they have committed for later reference.

Stage 2: Shaming

After a while, it's time to show them that their actions did have consequences - not for them, but for the other people in the world. Let them watch as good, decent people suffer because of them. Show them the people who go hungry or suffer from disease because they robbed a merchant on the way to their town. Make them encounter the destitute widows and orphans of those they have slain. Throw in a few real tear-jerkers.

But don't make the NPCs suspicious of the party yet. Allow sufficient time for the PCs to develop and display a conscience. If they try to make some sort of amends - openly or in secret - then the characters might yet find redemption. But if not, proceed to the next stage.

Stage 3: Web of Lies

At this stage, the PCs will likely have become powerful enough to attract notice as "mighty heroes". The authorities will likely hire them to deal with all sorts of problems - including a few that they themselves have caused. So what do they do when the local ruler wants them to investigate the death and robbery of one of his tax collectors if the PCs have caused that death in the first place? Likely murder and lie even more to cover their tracks.

And their status as "mighty heroes" also means that other people will want to hear more about their "mighty deeds". The PCs might very well revel in the attention at first. But since they need to continue lying to their audience to cover up their crimes, it will soon become difficult to keep their stories straight among all the player characters.

Keep careful track of what which PC said to whom, and take note of any inconsistencies. Over time, it will become harder and harder to maintain their appearances. Give them plenty of opportunities to commit further sins (such as the disposal of inconvenient witnesses and other people who have figured them out) - but all this will only be delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later, their web of lies will collapse.

And they won't be able to blame anyone but themselves for it. They had plenty of opportunity to move away from the path of Evil, but they choose not to. What happens in the next stages is entirely their own fault.

Stage 4: Pariah

Once their true nature has been exposed, all their lies will quickly collapse. People will remember all the places they have traveled to, and connect their presence with various nefarious deeds that happened during their stay. They will be reviled throughout the land, and bards will sing songs about their depravity. Children will scream at their sight, and streets will empty themselves whenever they enter a town.

Some players might see this as a perverted sign of "respect", so you need to make sure that their descriptions in the tales are anything but flattering. Add tales of utterly vile crimes to the stories about them that the PCs didn't actually commit. This should be rather frustrating for the PCs as they can no longer control their own reputations. Protesting this is unlikely to work - saying "I didn't poison that village/slaughter those nuns/eat those babies" will sound unconvincing, considering all the evil deeds the party did commit. While they can try to argue with others that they are not responsible for those other atrocities, they will soon sense that others will only agree with them because they are afraid of the PCs instead of any real conviction. They will never be able to clear their names.

For some time, the local militias and guards will attempt to stop them whenever they enter a town. Don't bother to play those combats out. Just tell the players: "You defeat them - they are just a bunch of level 1 minions and a level 3 brute, and thus no challenge to you. Just tell me how you defeat them and what you do with them afterwards." Allow them to plunder the town at their leisure if they want. Soon, the towns and villages along their path will react to them similar to how people throughout the ages have reacted to invading armies - read up on such times for examples. Maybe it will give them pause if villagers commit suicide rather than fall into the hands of the PCs...

Now, the greatest heroes of the kingdom and the greatest champions of Good will seek out the PCs to take them down (possibly with a few choice monologues hurled their way if these people knew the PCs from the days when their cover was still intact). These fights will be infrequent (there aren't that many people around who could be a real challenge to the party), but devastating when they do occur. If the PCs manage to survive through all those, eventually the realm will run out of heroes - and it is time to proceed to the next stage.

Stage 5: Anathema

The PCs are now blights upon the land. With the champions of Good struck down, monsters begin to overrun the land and prey on the population. Civilization begins to crumble. Trade slows down to a trickle, and then stops entirely. The cities begin to starve. The rulers that remain fearfully huddle in their castles, not daring to offend the PCs because of their power. The PCs could likely take over their rule - but there is little left worth ruling over.

Significantly for the PCs, money and gold become pretty much worthless by this stage. Basic goods and services - what little of them are still available - will likely be given to the PCs for free in the hopes of staving off their wrath. But the magic items that the PCs are likely to be most interested in become unavailable now - while they might have had luck finding enchanters on the black market during the previous stage, by now all such people have likely fled to far-away hiding places. The mere presence of the PCs either scares them away, or all of their potential customers. And even if some of them had stayed behind for the PCs to find, where would they find the necessary ritual components for the creation of the items the PCs want? Thus, the PCs are reduced to making use of only the magic items they can loot, and any piles of gold and jewels they might carry with them are nothing more than useless, worthless junk.

There are likely to be some remaining fights with powerful, celestial entities and the like. But they may find that they have unexpected allies in such fights - demons or devils who claim that the PCs represent their lords' "most faithful servants". Being told that their souls are fated for the Nine Hells or the Abyss might give the PCs pause. Any attempts at redemption at this stage will be incredibly difficult, if they even try to make the effort.

Final Stage: Doom

As the PCs search yet another old, crumbling ruin in search of powerful treasures, they come across a lengthy inscription chiseled into a stone wall. It tells of a prophecy about the so-called "Harbingers of Doom" who will lead humanity into a dark age. Deciphering it, they realize that this prophecy is about them, and it includes a lengthy list of their most nefarious deeds. It states explicitly that they have slain all the Champions of Light who might have staved off the coming Darkness, dooming humanity to become slaves of monsters forevermore.

And with this, the campaign ends.


Such an end is frustrating for the player characters, since it makes them appear as being fated servants of Evil with no control over their destiny, and no chance of averting it. Yet the message to the players is clear - they, and only they decided to commit one evil deed after another, and their choices alone doomed the world. Hopefully they will have learned that their choices matter, and that maybe they should choose a different path for their next campaign.


And if not... maybe then it is time to seek a new group.