Evil Campaigns: How do you feel about them?

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

So I've realized that I start a lot of polls, but I think this one might be pretty interesting to see how people feel about the subject of evil campaigns.

I've ran a few in my decade + of DM'ing and actually find them harder to DM for a variety of reasons. I personally like the good vs evil and good prevailing, I don't like the backstabbing that goes on intra-party with them all being evil, I find it hard to motivate the evil PC's as easily as it would be for good PC's and I've only been able to run one evil campaign to the end the rest just fizzle out like my interest in them.

So I ask the rest of the community: How do you feel about evil campaigns as a DM and/or a Player?

 

[Vascant]

They generally do not go as evil as should be the case. When I used to play I was also going through what I call the "evil phase", just some phases I notice most gamers go through as they play for years on end. Everyone looked shocked when I basically slaughtered everyone in the party one night and took everything. I mean come on, the party served their purpose as far as I was concerned and it was time for them to be on their way and since I hate leaving enemies behind, I left bodies.

Now lets be honest, it wasn't much fun for anyone else in the group. I do think you can get lawful evil types to move forward towards an objective but anything left of that and you open the door to a inside job TPK.

Just my opinion though.

 

[Pentius]

I said "Other". I would love to one day be involved in a maturely handled, thematically engaging evil campaign. Alas, it is the unicorn.

I have no patience for the "I just want to be a jerk" evil campaigns.

 

[steeldragons]

No sir, I don't like it.

I have limited experience with both.

From a DM perspective, I've run one. And you're right. They're tough.

Specifically because half of each session had to do with note passing [talkin' pre-email here ] and reading and taking this or that one out of the room to discuss what their evil PC was going off by themselves to do...or more likely, attempting to do to other PCs.

The intra-party fighting is endless. Everything from the alpha-anti-paladin trying to assert his dominance over the others to full out brawls with everyone taking sides and killing off one another.

It didn't last long...I can't imagine a group of evil PCs to stay together (or alive) long enough for a whole campaign.

There also seems to be a disconnect when you [as DM] actually play the "good guys" going after/getting the "bad PCs". Murder, theft, rampant destruction...and you want to get pissy when the authorities manage to capture and jail you...or sentence you to death?

If you want to be treated like "heroes" then you're gonna have to play [or at least "act" like] them. Act like villains, you're getting treated that way.

From a player perspective, it's fun enough, I guess. Again, only ever was a player in one (in over 2 decades of play, mind you)...to be wicked is fun, after all. But then, you're just another member in the schemes and brawls versus DMing it.

They are fun enough for a one-shot or a limited, short story/number of sessions (out to assassinate the local ruler, take over atown, whatever). But for a whole "campaign"? No thanks.

I'm with you, too, on "the good guys triumph over evil" (not necessarily the same good guys who started the campaign, of course. But wutcha gonna do? It's a dangerous world. Death happens.

Having evil PCs in a predominantly good or neutral party is always fun until one of the players gets suspicious and casts Detect Evil (gods forbid you actually have a paladin in the group!)...But I find, oftentimes the player with the evil PC gets mad/annoyed about being "outed".

You chose to play a NE PC [without any kind of alignment masking magic]...you deal with the consequences or play something else.

But, again, for a whole campaign of evil...I'll pass.
--SD

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I guess my only, what I call a successful evil campaign was a solo campaign with a player who played two PC's and it was a lot of fun. The PCs he played were a Necromancer and a Barbarian so no threat of an intra-party TPK because he played them both!

I just generally find that when you have a normal party of evil characters they are all only out for themselves instead of for the group. If one dies, they don't go running to the healer to raise the fallen and aren't sad about it. If it's a good group they are watching each others' backs and genuinely care if they lose a party member they aren't going to run around and kill their companions on a whim.

I can see that if you (as the DM) restrict all the characters to being lawful evil that it might go a bit better, but they will all still have their own agendas and greed generally gets the best of most evil PCs.

 

[Mark CMG]

I don't "hate" them but I won't run them (Evil is for villains and monsters) and I don't play in them either. They don't make for enjoyable RPGing, IMO.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I love evil campaigns but not stupid evil (killing other pcs because they are tgere and take their stuff). The characters may be evil but they still have values, attachments, loyalties etc. For me Goodfellas is a good model for how an evil party might operate.

 

[Crothian]

Been there and done that. Back in 3.5 we had a great evil campaign that went from level 1-24. There was no backstabbing other PCs, or PC verse PC conflict. It worked well but now I have no desire to play that type of campaign again.

 

[Kaodi]

I do not think that everyone in the party has to be " Lawful " Evil, but they do have to be " Loyal " Evil. If there is nothing uniting the party except the pursuit of profit, then there will be nothing stopping anyone from killing their fellows if it would profit them.

You could think of Aristotle's types of friendship as well. If they are friends because of profit it will not work, if they are friends because they enjoy each others company it can work (as long as they enjoy each others company), and if they are friends because they have some sort of mutual respect and desire for well-being, it will probably work.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I can run them as a DM and kind of like them but I do have to guideline my players on "evil". This is not just kicking puppies evil but plotting and setting evil goals, it is how evil will work with evil and when is the best time to be more evil than the other evil characters.