Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Is killing a Goblin who begs for mercy evil?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="the_David" data-source="post: 8337220" data-attributes="member: 98947"><p>You might have a point there but I'm talking about... uhm. The best example I can come up with right now is Swiper from Dora the Explorer. Sorry. The kind of antagonist who is just there because the writer thought the story needed an antagonist. </p><p></p><p>Another example would be the goblins in Sunless Citadel. There's nothing in the plothooks that tells the players they are evil, and yet the adventure expects that the players will invade the home they've been living in for at least 13 years and slaughter them all. The only thing they might have done that could be percieved as evil is owning a barrel of elf pudding and there's no way for the players to find out this information except by finding that barrel.</p><p></p><p>In contrast, skeletons and zombies on Golarion are evil because someone killed them, took their soul and mangled it and then put it back into their rotting corpse. Demons are the reincarnations of the sins of mortals cast into the abyss. Mind flayers eat the brains of what they consider to be lesser beings, much like we might eat the meat of animals. For them it's a necessity to survive, but we would consider that evil. Even Javert in Les Miserables has a reason to do the things he does, even though it's a flimsy one at best.</p><p>All af these are better justifications for being evil than just needing an antagonist for the story.</p><p></p><p>I'm curious if you can come up with an example of a straight-up evil villain who isn't boring or bad. I'd love to hear about those.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the_David, post: 8337220, member: 98947"] You might have a point there but I'm talking about... uhm. The best example I can come up with right now is Swiper from Dora the Explorer. Sorry. The kind of antagonist who is just there because the writer thought the story needed an antagonist. Another example would be the goblins in Sunless Citadel. There's nothing in the plothooks that tells the players they are evil, and yet the adventure expects that the players will invade the home they've been living in for at least 13 years and slaughter them all. The only thing they might have done that could be percieved as evil is owning a barrel of elf pudding and there's no way for the players to find out this information except by finding that barrel. In contrast, skeletons and zombies on Golarion are evil because someone killed them, took their soul and mangled it and then put it back into their rotting corpse. Demons are the reincarnations of the sins of mortals cast into the abyss. Mind flayers eat the brains of what they consider to be lesser beings, much like we might eat the meat of animals. For them it's a necessity to survive, but we would consider that evil. Even Javert in Les Miserables has a reason to do the things he does, even though it's a flimsy one at best. All af these are better justifications for being evil than just needing an antagonist for the story. I'm curious if you can come up with an example of a straight-up evil villain who isn't boring or bad. I'd love to hear about those. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Is killing a Goblin who begs for mercy evil?
Top