My mild frustration - an evil party

[Nightchilde-2]

Sounds to me like it's time for the rest of the world to hear about their exploits and a paladin-lead party of NPCs (perhaps a few levels higher than the PCs) to track them down and "put them back on the path to righteousness, or at least remove their evil scourge from the world."

Also, perhaps the infernal powers or some dark god gets wind of them and decides to further corrupt them, sending them on a spiral of degradation, violence and bloodshed until, before they know it, they're completely within the thrall of evil and can't claw their way out, no matter how much they try. Not only that, but they've commited atrocities far worse than the crimes for which they were originally wrongly accused..except this time, they're guilty.

If nothing else, there's always helms of alignment change.

It's all about the consequences. Show 'em a definite cause and effect sort of scenario. The more evil they become the more heroic (or just glory-seeking) people are going to come after them.

Personally, I hate evil PCs. I generally disallow them. Though I did have this one character that was evil, but no matter how evil she was, she accidentally wound up doing what was best for those around her. :-D But in general, I don't allow evil PCs..except in Eberron, but it's all kinda gray there.

 

[Cerubus Dark]

Wait, this sounds funny. Are you certain your not in my game?

I had my monsterus game go from my orignal idea go into a slow spiral of kill all the gods shall know their own. I had to put that on hold. All I can say is "<cynicism>Thank the gods for my Depression...</cynicism>"

I don't know as soon as I can get over this I think I will continue my Monsterus game and teach these idiots that the heros of the world can and will unite to slaughter them.

 

[Tuzenbach]

Wow! That's MY kind of campaign! How can I join?

Remember, we play D&D for fun. If the players are happy, we're doing a good job. Unfortunately, being the DM entails that the player's happiness must come before our own. I believe it has something to do with the needs of the many out-weighing the needs of the few or something..............

 

[humble minion]

I like the "hunted by restless dead" thing, but another option is leveraging their character backgrounds. Any of them have beloved families, friends, parents, mentors? Have these NPCs fall into the hands of the mad scientists (or whichever bad guys the PCs are working with at the moment. Let the PCs discover this AFTER they've had a hand in the capture, and after a couple of unspeakable things have happened to their loved ones. You play with fire, expect to get burnt...

 

[Ghostknight]

Wow! That's MY kind of campaign! How can I join?

Remember, we play D&D for fun. If the players are happy, we're doing a good job. Unfortunately, being the DM entails that the player's happiness must come before our own. I believe it has something to do with the needs of the many out-weighing the needs of the few or something..............

Bottom line though is that if the DM isn't happy- bye bye game. Why spend time on something you aren't enjoying? Being Dm isn't a public service, you spend more time setting up and preparing between sessions than players and you have a right to enjoy it as well. if you aren't, then you are likely to stop the campaign and that ends it for everyone!

 

[Shallown]

I think this is a meta game issue. Basically as I understand it you, as GM, don't enjoy this sort of campaign.

I have a few ideas. My solutions are all meta-game. I don't believe in transfering meta-game problems into game problems so I won't suggest good guys hunting them down or showing them the error of their ways. All of those are Gm versus Player solutions. I know its more heroic but in reality evil people do evil every day and get away with it. History will show large and massively evil things have and do happen so its not neccessarily realistic for Good to win.

First Idea is patience.
Been through this before and when players realize they can commit evil and get away with it they usually go a little wild for a while. Most groups, in my experience, will tire of it after a while. Playing evil is much more fun when its one or two people trying to buck the system not the whole group cutting a path through the local villagers. That gets boring.

Second idea is communication.
Tell the players that "Hey! I'm not having fun". I think this is perfectly acceptable. If the players were doing nothing but hack and slash and ignoring roleplaying then you might not enjoy that either (or vice versa). This is basically the same thing. Some aspect of the game is not what you like as GM. This does not make anyone right or wrong or one style better than the other it means you don't see eye to eye. Find a middle ground or don't play. I know that sounds sort of harsh but in a good group who have some history you can usually work it out. Its a matter of finding what you both can enjoy.

Third is Pull the God card.
I'm God/GM so Stop it. Usually not that great a soultion but some people/GMs have pulled it off before. Depends on your group dynamic.

I suggest these in this order for a reason. It is the order I would use, have some patience see if they tire of it, if not talk about it, if no middle ground is achieved, give them a choice and become a player and let someone else be the GM.

Later

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Bottom line though is that if the DM isn't happy- bye bye game. Why spend time on something you aren't enjoying? Being Dm isn't a public service, you spend more time setting up and preparing between sessions than players and you have a right to enjoy it as well. if you aren't, then you are likely to stop the campaign and that ends it for everyone!

I'll second this.

I wouldn't bother dming a session I have no enthusiasm for and even if I did (as I have done in the past) the session would be very mediocre and boring.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I find it distasteful when my friends, who are the 'protagonists,' are doing rather abhorrent things.

I feel exactly the same way, and I'm always up-front about it with new players. I don't expect characters to all be knights-in-shining-armor, but I do expect them to be "heroes." If they're interested in being amoral killing machines -- or, as someone else put it, "pragmatic" -- then someone else can DM.


Jeff

 

[Jim Hague]

Say it with me, RW:

Revenants are your friends.

Running with the restless dead concept, think on this - if you were running a campaign of good PCs, how would you use this element to hook them into the plot? What sort of PCs might respond well to this?

Those folks on the boat? They've got relatives, friends, business partners...assume one or more survives, and tells the tale. What then?

I think that, with a little work, you can have some fun with this. The PCs you're describing aren't playing evil smart, they're essentially running around waving a big flag with 'EVIL' writ large upon it. That demands a smackettadoom of some sort. Again, visit the idea of PCs as antagonists for your current group.

Hm, more later as I think a bit...

 

[S'mon]

>> I know its more heroic but in reality evil people do evil every day and get away with it. History will show large and massively evil things have and do happen so its not neccessarily realistic for Good to win.<<

Sure - but smart evildoers are either subtle (the Doctor who quietly murders his patients) or are operating in a milieu where they can get away with it, like a wartorn land (Bosnia in the 90s) where law enforcement is non-existent and a designated 'enemy' is fair game. People who go on homicidal killing sprees in a civilised realm don't last long in real life, and neither should they in a fantasy world unless you the GM have decided that that's the (very unpleasant) 'murder world' style campaign premise you want.