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Advice For Running An "Evil" Campaign?
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<blockquote data-quote="Herremann the Wise" data-source="post: 5303350" data-attributes="member: 11300"><p>Hello Lord Metal-Demon,</p><p></p><p>My first piece of advice is don't - try and talk the players around if you can. I have never been involved in a successful evil campaign - things derail, player conflict seems almost guaranteed. A neutral non-heroic campaign can cover almost the same territory/scratch the curiosity itch without some of the hassle. If the players just want to play with the "evil toys" and abilities let them gain access to them with a neutral character who can't help but be tempted by the dark side.</p><p></p><p>My second piece of advice is if you insist in going ahead with it, make it a one shot that then continues, a session at a time until it implodes.</p><p></p><p>My third piece of advice if you are hell bent on doing this is:</p><p></p><p>- Regular adventuring and exploration does not work as well as it does with a "normal" group of PCs. This typically (in my experience) ends up with the PCs doing evil things to the other PCs as doing evil things to monsters becomes pretty boring and undifferentiated from what the good guys do to the monsters anyway. [I think the worlds biggest dungeon could be a mistake in this regard - tread carefully if using this].</p><p></p><p>- Your guys are evil, and there are two sorts of enemies: those that are the "more" evil main protaganists and competition for the PCs and then the "goodie two shoes" who get smacked around almost as comic relief. Sometimes the best approach is the PCs being the lackeys of an Evil Mastermind (TM), who are sent out to screw up different organisations (mercantile, church or other evil guys). The main idea of doing this is that the player's need for performing evil stuff is directed against targets in the game rather than each other. As soon as the players start thinking about screwing each other over, the imploding timer gets turned on.</p><p></p><p>- The best way of doing this successfully is to homebrew it, riffing off of some interesting ideas in published adventures where you reverse it around and have the PCs replace the "evil" guys defending against the good guys and making them fail in increasingly miserable ways (more XP for the more spectacular the good-guys failure). Have the PCs infiltrate an evil organisation and screw it over from the inside. Targetted and focused missions work best, rather than protracted adventuring and exploration.</p><p></p><p>- Think very carefully about what it is that is making the campaign enjoyable but also sustainable after each session. Emphasise this.</p><p></p><p>- Make sure the players understand that if they screw each other over, the game will eventually fail - so make them have a gentleman's agreement in this regards if they can.</p><p></p><p>I wish you the best with your evil endeavours.</p><p></p><p>Best Regards</p><p>Herremann the Wise</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Herremann the Wise, post: 5303350, member: 11300"] Hello Lord Metal-Demon, My first piece of advice is don't - try and talk the players around if you can. I have never been involved in a successful evil campaign - things derail, player conflict seems almost guaranteed. A neutral non-heroic campaign can cover almost the same territory/scratch the curiosity itch without some of the hassle. If the players just want to play with the "evil toys" and abilities let them gain access to them with a neutral character who can't help but be tempted by the dark side. My second piece of advice is if you insist in going ahead with it, make it a one shot that then continues, a session at a time until it implodes. My third piece of advice if you are hell bent on doing this is: - Regular adventuring and exploration does not work as well as it does with a "normal" group of PCs. This typically (in my experience) ends up with the PCs doing evil things to the other PCs as doing evil things to monsters becomes pretty boring and undifferentiated from what the good guys do to the monsters anyway. [I think the worlds biggest dungeon could be a mistake in this regard - tread carefully if using this]. - Your guys are evil, and there are two sorts of enemies: those that are the "more" evil main protaganists and competition for the PCs and then the "goodie two shoes" who get smacked around almost as comic relief. Sometimes the best approach is the PCs being the lackeys of an Evil Mastermind (TM), who are sent out to screw up different organisations (mercantile, church or other evil guys). The main idea of doing this is that the player's need for performing evil stuff is directed against targets in the game rather than each other. As soon as the players start thinking about screwing each other over, the imploding timer gets turned on. - The best way of doing this successfully is to homebrew it, riffing off of some interesting ideas in published adventures where you reverse it around and have the PCs replace the "evil" guys defending against the good guys and making them fail in increasingly miserable ways (more XP for the more spectacular the good-guys failure). Have the PCs infiltrate an evil organisation and screw it over from the inside. Targetted and focused missions work best, rather than protracted adventuring and exploration. - Think very carefully about what it is that is making the campaign enjoyable but also sustainable after each session. Emphasise this. - Make sure the players understand that if they screw each other over, the game will eventually fail - so make them have a gentleman's agreement in this regards if they can. I wish you the best with your evil endeavours. Best Regards Herremann the Wise [/QUOTE]
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