Evil Campaigns

Ryujin · Jun 23, 2014

I'm currently playing in the second module of the Way of the Wicked campaign, at 5th level. It's certainly an interesting take on an evil campaign, but I'm already getting the feeling that it doesn't stray far from the "evil just backstabs itself" meme. Time will tell.

Our rather small party consists of:

A Master Summoner, who is our titular leader
An Archer Rogue, maximized for stealth
An Archer Weapon Master/Ninja (myself), who doesn't provoke AOs when shooting

The campaign takes place in what is supposed to be a Lawful Good land, where the very act of something like summoning or grave robbing (the stuff of most parties I've been in) is considered evil. The player characters ARE evil; no 'misunderstood' people need apply.

MortalPlague · Jun 24, 2014

I think many third party companies are worried about a publicity backlash due to the nature of an evil campaign. Sure, we as gamers would 'get it', but I'm not sure the public at large, who seem to have an eye for anything controversial, would approve.

On top of that, an evil campaign is much harder to run as a DM. You need to have mature players (none of this 'let's attack everyone in sight' kind of evil). You need people who know how to play a character with nefarious goals without turning on the rest of the party mid-campaign. And a DM who knows how to entice, challenge, and limit such characters.

pickin_grinnin · Jun 24, 2014

Unfortunately, I have never found a set of players who are comfortable playing evil. Maybe someday...

Evenglare · Jun 24, 2014

Ryujin said:
but I'm already getting the feeling that it doesn't stray far from the "evil just backstabs itself" meme.

meme...I'm uh... im not sure you are using that word right. At least in the modern sense of the word which, presumably, is how I believe you meant to use it.

Ryujin · Jun 24, 2014

Evenglare said:
meme...I'm uh... im not sure you are using that word right. At least in the modern sense of the word which, presumably, is how I believe you meant to use it.

I'm not a very modern person. In some ways, like usage of language, I can be positively medieval

(Psi)SeveredHead · Jun 24, 2014

Crothian said:
Some company has an AP called Way of the Wicked that is for evil characters.

I'm running that right now. I converted it to 4e. The PCs just got betrayed, and look like they're about to make the situation worse for themselves.

The PCs keep capturing the good-aligned adventurers and trying to befriend them.

Evil is generally hard to run, as lots of players require careful management and are looking for a chance to backstab the rest of the PCs. Way of the Wicked has a way of preventing that, but in general these days DMs don't try to control player misbehavior. The excuse "I'm only playing my character" gets used too much.

Ryujin · Jun 24, 2014

MortalPlague said:
I think many third party companies are worried about a publicity backlash due to the nature of an evil campaign. Sure, we as gamers would 'get it', but I'm not sure the public at large, who seem to have an eye for anything controversial, would approve.

On top of that, an evil campaign is much harder to run as a DM. You need to have mature players (none of this 'let's attack everyone in sight' kind of evil). You need people who know how to play a character with nefarious goals without turning on the rest of the party mid-campaign. And a DM who knows how to entice, challenge, and limit such characters.

I could certainly see that sort of thing happening; a return to the crappy '80s, in which the Religious Right tried to stamp out Dungeons and Dragons as a tool of Satan. At least one local school board banned the game, back then, out of fear.

Unwise · Jun 24, 2014

I think that the OP is correct about the right way to run a campaign, it has to be "evil with a point". I would take that a step further though and try and make PCs who are personally and logically invested in evil's triumph. The most compelling reason for this is generally the race or culture of the PCs. A human who decides to follow a dark god is a horrible creature that is surely terribly and unrelatably evil. An orc who follows his warchief to victory over their hated enemies who have forced them to live a wasteland for generations may still do all the same evil things, but is more relatable as a fleshed out person. A draconian who was born for this very task and just wants to impress their creator-mother makes perfect sense too.

This is different to the trope of 'are the bad guys really bad, or just misunderstood and from different perspective'. No, the bad guys are indeed very bad, they are just relatable and have, mixed in with their badness, some worthwhile characteristics, like valour, loyalty or love of their people/god/creator.

Richards · Jun 24, 2014

the Jester said:
... but yeah, it's a little disappointing that there is such a surfeit of adventures targeted at evil pcs.

www.dictionary.com said:
sur·feit [sur-fit]: noun - excess; an excessive amount

I don't think that word means what you think it means....

Johnathan

the Jester · Jun 24, 2014

Richards said:
I don't think that word means what you think it means....

Johnathan

D'oh, brainfart.

Evil Campaigns

Ryujin

Legend

MortalPlague

Adventurer

pickin_grinnin

Explorer

Evenglare

Adventurer

Ryujin

Legend

(Psi)SeveredHead

Adventurer

Ryujin

Legend

Unwise

Adventurer

Richards

Legend

the Jester

Legend

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