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Do your Political Views shape how your villains and heroes act?
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 7510013" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p>I tend to run Eberron, where shades of grey (at least when it comes to alignment) are baked into the system. That said, I don't shy away from using "obviously evil, want to take over and/or destroy the world" types; my current campaign focuses on a cult attempting to resurrect a demonic overlord (an adaptation of HotDQ), my last campaign focused on Erandis Vol trying to re-create the Mourning as part of a plot to regain her powers. Early and minor villains tend to be a bit more mundane, and have included:</p><p>*A rampaging undead Warforged veteran of the Last War (this was a Friday the 13th riff)</p><p>*A grief-stricken Silver Flame inquisitor with a strong hatred for shapechangers</p><p>*The corrupt head of House Lyrander, who accepted vampirism from Lady Vol after both of his sons turned on him, threatening his legacy</p><p>*A university professor who was indoctrinating his students into a Cult of the Dragon Below</p><p>*A group of Cyran terrorists taking Cannith Tower hostage during a Crystalfall party and threatening to topple the tower unless their demands are met, mostly as cover to rob the House Cannith vaults (this was a Die Hard riff)</p><p>*A pair of Half-Elven merchants making a profit off of selling fake religious artifacts</p><p></p><p>Most of my players tend to be members of marginalized groups so I try not to work those kinds of politics into the story when I can help it, though it can sometimes be fun and cathartic to take down, for instance, a particularly vile misogynistic villain. Or a corrupt corporate official or politician (but I repeat myself). </p><p></p><p>Of course, I have my suspicions (though I doubt Keith Baker would ever confirm it) that the setting of Eberron was designed with at least a slightly progressive frame of reference in mind (whether it was intentional or not). My players and I certainly enjoy the more subversive aspects of it (the takes on alignment and "monstrous" races, in particular). If anything, my personal politics inform the <em>setting</em> more than they do the specific characters or stories we tell. Most cultures in my worlds are extremely progressive when it comes to gender, sex, and sexuality, for instance. Most (though certainly not all) of the Dragonmarked Houses are rife with corruption and are driven more by profit than by any other kind of principle (though in my current campaign the Houses are leading the charge against the cult threatening the world while the nations themselves are busy closing and fortifying their borders). Race & racism, from a D&D perspective, is a very different thing from race & racism in the real world, and I try to make those distinctions clear while also continuing to question those impulses (my players tend to deal with many good and helpful orcs and goblinoids, for instance; I even have a fairly helpful if creepy and manipulative mind flayer NPC that the players don't necessarily know if they can trust or not).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 7510013, member: 57112"] I tend to run Eberron, where shades of grey (at least when it comes to alignment) are baked into the system. That said, I don't shy away from using "obviously evil, want to take over and/or destroy the world" types; my current campaign focuses on a cult attempting to resurrect a demonic overlord (an adaptation of HotDQ), my last campaign focused on Erandis Vol trying to re-create the Mourning as part of a plot to regain her powers. Early and minor villains tend to be a bit more mundane, and have included: *A rampaging undead Warforged veteran of the Last War (this was a Friday the 13th riff) *A grief-stricken Silver Flame inquisitor with a strong hatred for shapechangers *The corrupt head of House Lyrander, who accepted vampirism from Lady Vol after both of his sons turned on him, threatening his legacy *A university professor who was indoctrinating his students into a Cult of the Dragon Below *A group of Cyran terrorists taking Cannith Tower hostage during a Crystalfall party and threatening to topple the tower unless their demands are met, mostly as cover to rob the House Cannith vaults (this was a Die Hard riff) *A pair of Half-Elven merchants making a profit off of selling fake religious artifacts Most of my players tend to be members of marginalized groups so I try not to work those kinds of politics into the story when I can help it, though it can sometimes be fun and cathartic to take down, for instance, a particularly vile misogynistic villain. Or a corrupt corporate official or politician (but I repeat myself). Of course, I have my suspicions (though I doubt Keith Baker would ever confirm it) that the setting of Eberron was designed with at least a slightly progressive frame of reference in mind (whether it was intentional or not). My players and I certainly enjoy the more subversive aspects of it (the takes on alignment and "monstrous" races, in particular). If anything, my personal politics inform the [I]setting[/I] more than they do the specific characters or stories we tell. Most cultures in my worlds are extremely progressive when it comes to gender, sex, and sexuality, for instance. Most (though certainly not all) of the Dragonmarked Houses are rife with corruption and are driven more by profit than by any other kind of principle (though in my current campaign the Houses are leading the charge against the cult threatening the world while the nations themselves are busy closing and fortifying their borders). Race & racism, from a D&D perspective, is a very different thing from race & racism in the real world, and I try to make those distinctions clear while also continuing to question those impulses (my players tend to deal with many good and helpful orcs and goblinoids, for instance; I even have a fairly helpful if creepy and manipulative mind flayer NPC that the players don't necessarily know if they can trust or not). [/QUOTE]
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