D&D General How Good or Evil Have the Adventuring Parties You've Played In/DM'd for Been?

[Hexmage-EN]

My players tend to do what's funny and gets them XP without a lot of regard for good or evil.

That's certainly been a lot of my experience so far, though it would be interesting to play in a group where everyone was serious about roleplaying actually good characters who try to avoid combat, handle enemies nonlethally, etc.

 

[Umbran]

I'm curious if others have had similar experiences, or if they have perhaps been in or DM'd for more consistently morally upstanding parties.

In tabletop games, I've seen very few wantonly violent or evil PCs. I just don't work with groups who do that sort of thing, I guess.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

In tabletop games, I've seen very few wantonly violent or evil PCs. I just don't work with groups who do that sort of thing, I guess.

I assume some players are more interested in roleplaying and treating the world and its characters as a real place with real people, some are more interested in a power fantasy, and some value the former so long as it doesn't hinder the latter (and then quickly compartmentalize the NPCs as not actually being real to suit their power fantasy).

When DMing, I personally try to not rain on someone's parade unless I think something will negatively impact another player's enjoyment, at which point I try to steer things in another direction. Although since I started DMing again with 5E I haven't had any real problem players, thankfully.

 

[iserith]

That's certainly been a lot of my experience so far, though it would be interesting to play in a group where everyone was serious about roleplaying actually good characters who try to avoid combat, handle enemies nonlethally, etc.

All the DM needs do in my experience is incentivize it. Give XP for resolving challenges via exploration or social interaction or nonlethal combat and no XP for turning things into a fine pink slurry. Offer Inspiration for playing to good-aligned Traits, Ideals, and Bonds. If the players want to level up or earn resources for mitigating risk, they'll tend do the things they're incentivized to do (though not always). In my D&D/supers mash-up, for example, PCs earn XP only by bringing captured villains to the city's asylum and by spending their treasure on donations to the local orphanage. So that's what they do (although sometimes they've screwed up and killed villains by mistake or sometimes they spend their money on upgrades to equipment rather than orphans).

 

[Umbran]

I assume some players are more interested in roleplaying and treating the world and its characters as a real place with real people, some are more interested in a power fantasy, and some value the former so long as it doesn't hinder the latter (and then quickly compartmentalize the NPCs as not actually being real to suit their power fantasy).

I don't think there's anything innate to power fantasy that requires characters to be horrible people. I can revel in how much frelling damage my rogue is doing with that sneak attack as he slides his sword into someone's guts.... so long as he makes sure they really deserve it first.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I don't think there's anything innate to power fantasy that requires characters to be horrible people. I can revel in how much frelling damage my rogue is doing with that sneak attack as he slides his sword into someone's guts.... so long as he makes sure they really deserve it first.

I think there's probably an aspect of how realistically violent acts and their repercussions are portrayed.

For example, when I played Saints Row 2 forever ago I had no qualms with robbing and attacking NPCs (in fact, seeing how long I could go on a rampage before getting killed was a big part of the fun of the game). When I tried this casual approach to violence on an early NPC in Dead Rising, though, the sensation was different and got uncomfortable enough that I just had my character run from the guy I had attacked (and run from him whenever he tried to attack me from then on).

I should probably also mention that this thread was partially inspired by me watching The Suicide Squad earlier today, where the protagonists casually kill a lot of people, some of which definitely don't deserve it.

 

[R_J_K75]

It happens all the time in our games whether Im a player or DMing. When I was DMing I once had a player murder a maid at a large inn who knocked on their door for housekeeping, buried her in the linens of the maid cart and then threw her down the laundry chute to dispose of the evidence. It was OK though, he had a note from Epsteins mother. Does that count as evil?

 

[TheSword]

As a rule, I don’t want to play in an evil party. In a recent game where a caravan of gnomes was being attacked by kobolds (clearly the aggressors) the PC killed the gnome leader who was on top of the caravan. The game wrapped up soon after.

On the flip side, I’ve DMed Way of the Wicked and it was excelllent. Every so often running a dastardly campaign is fun if it is structured and written well. I imagine Paizo’s evil campaign in Chelliax is similar. Everyone has to be on the same page though and lean into it.

 

[Zardnaar]

I've banned evil characters and things like changelings.

I'm not opposed to in in theory in practice though much like Kender it seems to attract people you don't want at your table. And encourage pvp which I've also banned.

If it's 1 player 1 DM do whatever you like but the right of the group to have fun outweighs the right of the individual to be a moron.

 

[Dragonsbane]

I assume some players are more interested in roleplaying and treating the world and its characters as a real place with real people, some are more interested in a power fantasy, and some value the former so long as it doesn't hinder the latter (and then quickly compartmentalize the NPCs as not actually being real to suit their power fantasy).

Agree.

My group is usually heroic unless we are playing an evil campaign, which involves the evil PCs being loyal to a greater evil organization or each other. Generally speaking, murder hobos are dealt with IC, which always works well.