Hussar
Legend
IMO, and I think I've said this before, for an "evil" campaign to work, everyone has to be on board at the outset. Everyone generally "gets" a good campaign - there's just so many archetypes for it. For an evil campaign to work, the group as a whole has to sit down and figure out two things:
1. Why would this group of evil people work together? Most evil archetypes don't play well with others. Don't use those archetypes. Yes, the Joker is evil. But, there's a reason the Joker is on his own all the time - he's bloody insane and nobody in their right mind would stick around for any length of time with him. Pick archetypes that actually do function together for the most part. Some of the comic book villain teams - The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants manages to function as a group even without Magneto much of the time forex. Mafia or other organized crime groups manage to function. And there's always the tried and true Nazi's as well - you're members of an "evil" heirarchy - perhaps a church or secular power.
Find what works FOR THE WHOLE GROUP. This is not the time for special snowflake, lone wolf characters. If that's what you want to play, then maybe an evil campaign is not for you at this time.
2. Why are they evil? What makes this group of people evil? Are they cultists out to kidnap people to sacrifice them to some demonic lord? Are they an organized crime syndicate? Whatever works. Just because someone is evil doesn't mean that they go around kicking puppies. Sopranos is an excellent archetype for evil characters. Tony is evil. He's violent, he's a criminal and he murders people. OTOH, he's a (fairly) caring family man who places the concerns of his family high on his priority list. And he's pretty generous to those who help him, even when that generosity might not actually gain him anything. Help out Tony Soprano and good things might come your way.
Once you have those two things nailed down, an evil campaign can work fairly well. But, without those two things, you're going to inevitably get that guy who thinks that stealing from the party is okay because he's evil and then the campaign falls apart when the rest of the party ganks him in his sleep.
1. Why would this group of evil people work together? Most evil archetypes don't play well with others. Don't use those archetypes. Yes, the Joker is evil. But, there's a reason the Joker is on his own all the time - he's bloody insane and nobody in their right mind would stick around for any length of time with him. Pick archetypes that actually do function together for the most part. Some of the comic book villain teams - The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants manages to function as a group even without Magneto much of the time forex. Mafia or other organized crime groups manage to function. And there's always the tried and true Nazi's as well - you're members of an "evil" heirarchy - perhaps a church or secular power.
Find what works FOR THE WHOLE GROUP. This is not the time for special snowflake, lone wolf characters. If that's what you want to play, then maybe an evil campaign is not for you at this time.
2. Why are they evil? What makes this group of people evil? Are they cultists out to kidnap people to sacrifice them to some demonic lord? Are they an organized crime syndicate? Whatever works. Just because someone is evil doesn't mean that they go around kicking puppies. Sopranos is an excellent archetype for evil characters. Tony is evil. He's violent, he's a criminal and he murders people. OTOH, he's a (fairly) caring family man who places the concerns of his family high on his priority list. And he's pretty generous to those who help him, even when that generosity might not actually gain him anything. Help out Tony Soprano and good things might come your way.
Once you have those two things nailed down, an evil campaign can work fairly well. But, without those two things, you're going to inevitably get that guy who thinks that stealing from the party is okay because he's evil and then the campaign falls apart when the rest of the party ganks him in his sleep.
