I'm sick of saving the world. Let's conquer it.

[Tyler Do'Urden]

The title says it all. I'm tired of "heroic" adventures and adventurers. No more paladins, no more rogues with a heart of gold, no more kindly old wizards.

I want to play Darth Vader. I want to play Hannibal Lecter. I want to consort with fiends and slay angels. I want to desecrate churches and murder holy men. I want to slaughter villages. I want to kill the goodly old king and rule his kingdom with a corrupt iron fist.

I want to be evil...

...but nobody makes adventures for me! No, no, I'm not talking about the "evil" option for Savage Tide. Or another all-Drow campaign (being evil in an evil society? Yawn.)

I look through years and years of products for D&D, third party or Wizards of the Coast- and there just isn't much for the DM that wants to run a campaign based around villainy, at least as far as adventure modules or paths specifically devoted to evil are concerned. I'm sure there's a demand- why isn't anybody filling it?

Let's play the villains.

 

[BlackMoria]

Well, playing the villains could be fun for a campaign or two.

Just don't expect to see any published modules like you want. Adventures are hard enough for publishers to make a living at without specifically catering to a small subset of your market (those who like and buy adventures).

I have no statistical evidence at all except a feeling that the majority of campaigns emphasis good and neutral vs the bad guys and a minority are the bad guys try to be the top dogs.

An adventure path for the bad guys or advenurers for villains - I just don't see any of the publishers stepping up to the plate due to the size of the market. But, I may be wrong...

 

[Melan]

Most modules that give you a sandbox to play in - an open environment with a lot of possibilities - is suitable for a party of anti-heroes or true villains. In that respect, you already have a lot of product to choose, from Keep on the Borderlands to Lost City of Barakus and City State of the Invincible Overlord (a Lawful Evil city full of adventuring potential).

One thing I have found is that evil PCs seem to work only as long as they are small-time losers in a hostile dog-eat-dog world. That's mostly good for party cohesion, and doesn't let evildoers get too cocky.

 

[DM_Jeff]

I look through years and years of products for D&D, third party or Wizards of the Coast- and there just isn't much for the DM that wants to run a campaign based around villainy, at least as far as adventure modules or paths specifically devoted to evil are concerned. I'm sure there's a demand- why isn't anybody filling it?

AEG did a how to play evil book called EVIL that was pretty darn fine for 3.0. I also took the 4 evil "Adventure Keep" modules they did for evil PCs and playtested the living heck out of them and reworked them for 3.5 in the compilation "Adventure II". Slaughtering paladins, whee!

My players had a load of fun being evil for a switch, but that's all it was, a diversion. By the time we were done running them in both groups, they were eager to be heroes again. Is it possible publishers beleive evil play doesn't sustain a campaign?

-DM Jeff

 

[thedungeondelver]

 

[kaomera]

The title says it all. I'm tired of "heroic" adventures and adventurers. No more paladins, no more rogues with a heart of gold, no more kindly old wizards.

I want to play Darth Vader. I want to play Hannibal Lecter. I want to consort with fiends and slay angels. I want to desecrate churches and murder holy men. I want to slaughter villages. I want to kill the goodly old king and rule his kingdom with a corrupt iron fist.

I want to be evil...

...but nobody makes adventures for me! No, no, I'm not talking about the "evil" option for Savage Tide. Or another all-Drow campaign (being evil in an evil society? Yawn.)

I look through years and years of products for D&D, third party or Wizards of the Coast- and there just isn't much for the DM that wants to run a campaign based around villainy, at least as far as adventure modules or paths specifically devoted to evil are concerned. I'm sure there's a demand- why isn't anybody filling it?

Let's play the villains.

Well, first of all, conquering the world... OK, go! IMHO, there's your adventure. Good PCs need some bad dude to do something nasty so they can go and stop them. If you want to play Evil it's going to be much more up to you. So pick up a setting book and set about undermining, corrupting, or killing every single NPC therein. If you want the DM to provide evil adventures... Well, then, the DM is going to have to improvise or alter existing material. Take AoW and make it about some goody-two-shoes godling attempting to manifest upon the material plane and create a new "golden age". Whatever. I think one of the really, really cool things about playing Evil is also one of the biggest stumbling blocks for a lot of players ~ you have to (get to, from my perspective) go out and make the adventure.

The other real stumbling block is party unity. A lot of players will take an evil alignment as an "excuse" to do really stupid, self-defeating things. The last Evil game I ran ended when the PCs, about to face their first real "BBGG", proceeded to kill each other off and destroy their own armies, then wonder why they couldn't win the big fight... Players of evil PCs need to keep in mind that they're still playing D&D, and if they're level n, then they can expect to face challenges that are CR / EL n or even n+x in some % of instances. If you're going to kill off those other idiots in the party (and I suggest that you do, before they get the same idea), then you need to either spend them where their "sacrifice" will do you the most good, or else be ready to escape, lick your wounds, and regroup afterwards.

 

[Kaodi]

When do we start statting out the Big Bad Good Guy?

 

[Crothian]

The title says it all. I'm tired of "heroic" adventures and adventurers. No more paladins, no more rogues with a heart of gold, no more kindly old wizards.

Let's play the villains.

I'm confused. Do you want to play villians or do you want to conquor the world? Becaue there is no reason a Paladin, kindly old wizard, or rogue with heart of gold cannot conquor the wolrd. A game of villians and a game that conquors the world can be similiar but they can also be very different.

As for just playing the villians there are very few modules that actually make it hard to play villians. Being bad is more about ones motives then their actions. You may have noticed that even the good guys in D&D leave behind a high body count in their wake.

 

[Templetroll]

The title says it all. I'm tired of "heroic" adventures and adventurers. No more paladins, no more rogues with a heart of gold, no more kindly old wizards.

I want to play Darth Vader. I want to play Hannibal Lecter. I want to consort with fiends and slay angels. I want to desecrate churches and murder holy men. I want to slaughter villages. I want to kill the goodly old king and rule his kingdom with a corrupt iron fist.

I want to be evil...

...but nobody makes adventures for me! No, no, I'm not talking about the "evil" option for Savage Tide. Or another all-Drow campaign (being evil in an evil society? Yawn.)

I look through years and years of products for D&D, third party or Wizards of the Coast- and there just isn't much for the DM that wants to run a campaign based around villainy, at least as far as adventure modules or paths specifically devoted to evil are concerned. I'm sure there's a demand- why isn't anybody filling it?

Let's play the villains.

If you are a villain make your plan and see it through. Gain power, oppress others and whatever else you decide to do. Villainy acts and the world will either fight you or bow and scrape beneath your heel. The DM does not need to create adventures for you - you tell him what you seek to make yourself more powerful and he will then give you the information your research provides.

 

[kaomera]

When do we start statting out the Big Bad Good Guy?

I thought Elminster and Drizzt had already been statted?