D&D 5E How would you conduct an evil campaign?

[eayres33]

Everytime I see one of these threads and I see the responses of evil = PVP, or evil equals players in conflict and out of control; I try not to throw up. Then I remember that I know people I respect that think Luke is the high point of the OT Star Wars.

I know, I hang out with some crazy people.

For three or more years I played a truly evil character in an online SW RPG, he murdered thousands of people during that time, but he did so with the belief that he was in the right every time. The character was evil because of what he did, not because of his justifications. He was like the Parliamentary Agent from Serenity. He believed he was righteous.

That has how I’ve played evil, and how I’ve run evil campaigns. It’s been fun, I actually struggle playing a hero, and it takes a lot more work.

 

[cbwjm]

I'd run it as comic book evil. The villains would ideally have grandiose plans to conquer or take over something.

Comic villains often team up into teams to combat their mutual enemies. As long as they need to take out the same opponents then they should be able to work together, they always need to be on the watch for a double cross though since sacrificing their allies to accomplish their own goals is a common occurrence. At the end of the campaign it will likely be a grab for power which may pit the players against each other.

All in all, I think this could be fun if done well. I've never run an evil campaign before but would be interested in hearing about successful evil campaigns.

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[Scary]

I do not allow evil PC's, just evil NPC's

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[77IM]

I do not allow evil players, just evil PC's

 

[koga305]

For anyone that is seriously interested in this, I would strongly recommend taking a look at the Way of the Wicked adventure path for Pathfinder. I ran the first adventure in the path for some friends in a marathon session a few months ago, and I can safely say that it was the best experience I've ever had with a prewritten adventure. Even for those who would like to run their own evil campaign, there's a lot of good advice and inspiration contained in just the first book of the path.

I also wrote a blog post detailing the conversion of that first adventure to 5E, if anyone's interested.

 

[TallIan]

A lot of people, in this thread and other similar ones, seem to think that evil PC's equal chaotic evil. An evil party doesn't have to stab each other in the back. A chaotic party does. A party of all CG/CN players shouldn't last long either - they're chaotic, oaths and laws mean little to them. They don't have to actually murder their companions, but they should happily break promises and not be dependable, something that does not lead to long term parties. This doesn't HAVE to be true for evil parties, unless they are all CE.

An evil party should be defined on the good - evil axis. If they are mostly LE/NE then there shouldn't be a problem of party cohesion, everyone thinks that laws are required and they all accept the need for each other and their place within the hierarchy. The difference really should be, "well the guy we've been hired to kill* is holed up in that tavern, lets barricade the exits and burn it down." As opposed to a good party who should take the approach of "the guy we've been hired to capture* has a hostage, let him go, we'll catch him later."

*This is also a difference between good and evil parties, the job is WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE. No bonus XP for guessing which party chose which option.

If you want to run an evil campaign you'll really have to discuss it with your players, and set limits on your evilness. I know plenty of people who happily play evil characters and play them well, but steer well clear of anything really dark involving women and children.

 

[werecorpse]

The reason that evil might equal pvp is that if the party finds a treasure hoard or thing that more than one character desires why share when there is no reason not to just kill your party members. This possibility must be dealt with conceptually.

I once rand a 1e mini campaign where the PC's were young Daemons on the prime plane. They had limited power and had to stick together to survive as they were hunted by good guys, used by witches etc. They got to be evil and play fish out of water types.

The game needs to be more than just evil PC's being evil IMO. They need the usual things - goals, character development etc

 

[Draegn]

I ignore alignments. No matter which edition or other game that uses them, they never work. People always deviate from the given game definition. You could make a scale, on one side list the seven deadly sins, on the other the seven virtues. Then see where the players fall. Would a cleric of the goddess of love choose a path towards chastity, lust or somewhere in between?

 

[TallIan]

The reason that evil might equal pvp is that if the party finds a treasure hoard or thing that more than one character desires why share when there is no reason not to just kill your party members. This possibility must be dealt with conceptually.

I would disagree, a LE party who's goals align could reasonably agree to help each other to achieve their goals, sharing the spoils as they go along, without killing each other. That is the lawful part of their alignment. Now when one of the party is getting in the way of anothers goal, that would result in PvP.

A CG party on the other hand, I foresee MANY more problems with inter-party rivalries, just dealt with differently depending on alignment, the robin hood type character should happily steal extra share of the loot from the rich noble.

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[Lanefan]

How would I run an evil campaign?

Simple.

Step 1: make it clear that anything goes - any alignment, any outcome (don't force everyone to be evil, just make it clear that it's both allowed and welcome*)
Step 2: make it even clearer that what happens in character stays in character, and that nothing is to be taken personally by the player(s)
Step 3: roll up characters and drop the puck.

* - to avoid headaches you might want to ban Paladins

Notice something there? Between steps 2 and 3 there's no mention of world-building or adventure design or any of that stuff, as for the first while you probably won't need much of it. Experience tells me it'll probably take two or three sessions for them to get the PvP out of their systems, after which they'll turn their unfriendly attention outward to the game-world at large; and only now will you need an adventure or something else relevant for them to do.

Lan-"in other words, pretty much like any game I run"-efan