Hi there.
I'm mastering a DnD campaign that is running since 2005. We have taken a break and we are playing the "other side" now, the villains.
So there i am, with a group comprising a ghost, a deathknight, and a choker (amongst other, more standard, character).
Now, i have plenty of combat material to make them have fun. Slaughtering civilians and killing those that they needed to quest for, where they were playing the "good guys".
But i am COMPLETELY out of ideas for more roleplay-based play.
I mean, normal characters can go to taverns, cities, can talk with people. But anyone that sees this group is beliavably gonna either fight, or run away.
I really cannot think of any fun and credible encounter that does not involve combat for this group, except maybe one or two (evil necromancer befriends them, a group of cobolds elects them as their leader)
Can anyone help me throw out some ideas that i can elaborate on?
Interesting that you mention this. My players want their next campaign to be Reverse Dungeon evil campaign too.
For roleplaying opportunities, we have to look at what it is that evil people do to accomplish their goals without having to resort to wanton slaughter.
1. The threat of force. Effective villains get what they want because they know the right words to instill fear into others. Your rp encounters should be toward this goal. Your group is sent by a their boss to garner support for an upcoming war to a local Underdark baron. The villains will have to kill the bodyguards and fight their way before the baron will even talk to them. Next, your PC's villains will need to rp out the encounter on making demands, issuing threats, etc. in order to enlist support for the cause. If the villains fail, more bodyguards / nasty champions suddenly show up and your villain PC's must kill them to order to show that they really mean business with the baron. If they succeed, then the baron gives in. If they lose or have to retreat, well, they got to deal with their irate master which leads to #2.
2. Blame game, begging and groveling. Villains groups are banded together because there is a strong guy at the top who has the strength and will to get his minions in line and moving. The minions are united together because they either believe in the cause or they don't want to be on the receiving end of the head honcho's wrath. It's also a great way to force the PC villains to work together and not pull out weapons on each other at the first insult, because they know if they bicker amongst themselves, they get obliterated by their patron. Anyways, your PC villains aren't going to win every battle and circumstance, so they will have some answering to do with their patron. This is where they can rp out blaming each other in order to deflect blame on themselves, or grovel and try to eek out their importance in their patron's eyes, or just beg and whine and hope they don't get blasted to smitherines. You can make this humorous as these scenes typically are.
3. Seeking Favor. Just as much as dealing with failure, the PC villains should try to curry favor with their master for the rewards of success. This should rp out to get the top pickings of the treasure, gold, or rewards. In the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, the Fallen (nine of them) all hatched various plots against each other and against the heroes in order to become Nablis, the second-in-command to the Dark Lord. This should be a very important goal for our PC villains, because the patron will not take kindly to any of his minions who have no ambition.
4. You get more bees with honey than with vinegar. Create situations where using any kind of heavy-handed tactics backfires. The PC villains should be able to promise power and rewards to others in order to get them to do what they want. Bribery works here too, particularly when you want your PC villains to set up contacts or a network of spies.
5. There are six other sins aside from wrath. Use them. Create rp situations that would appeal to the other types of sins other than fighting. Sloth, gluttony, pride, lust, etc. are all good sins to appeal to others and they are more for the rp than wrath is. Creating situations where these base desires must be appeased in order to accomplish the adventure will be more memorable than fighting orcs.
