What's your Bad Guy race like?

[Ashrum the Black]

Hmm, lets see

1) Human Pirates
2) Cultists worshipping a diety of entropy
3) dragonmen that were once human that seek to reclaim the power they once had in
ancient times
4) dark elves worshipping the diety of entropy that were once dragonmen that were once
human
5) power hungry men and woman that seek to turn the times of chaos and war to their own
gain
7) xenophobic dogmen that seek to kill anobody not one of them or a dragonman
8) Undead that seek to kill the world


That's about the list at the moment.

-Ashrum

 

[Nifft]

To me, that means that D&D's assumed game morality is either circumstantial (meaning that its okay to kill evil in most circumstances but not okay to kill good in most circumstances) or that at the very least it isn't black and white. I think we have an illusion of black-and-white morality because the game designers paint it that way ... but the reality is that the illusion is really quite circumstantial.

Agreed. And that's why a lot of alignment debates come about.

To me, "killing X is good, but killing Y is evil" is a black-and-white morality. It's unambiguous. "Thou shalt not kill" is different in its effect, but also unambiguous in its interpretation.

This game, based around a combat system, prefers the former.

Cheers, -- N

 

[bento]

Human.

The "Cult of Red Fog" (from the Kara-Tur setting) revisioned as a malevolent arm of the Temple of Eternal Flame, a group of Fire Shugenja. For a while now they've been inciting local goblins into war through an intermediary. This is a cat's paw for their plans to (A)overthrow the local government, so they can use the island as a base for their plans to (B) take over leadership of the national temple. Once they do this, they can begin infecting the other temples around the world.

Our heroes work for various power groups on the island, samurai, monks, and spirit shaman who have been ordered to fight back the goblins and uncover any connections between the groups.

 

[Desdichado]

Some folks like "interesting" and ambiguous.
Other folks like "Bad guys! Git 'em!".

It's a matter of group-wide taste and play style.

See the post at the top of this page, or the quote inside the post above yours.

Well, I know that. But that doesn't really answer my question.

Or, well, maybe it does and I'm just trying to make it a bigger deal than it is. In any case, I'd certainly argue the claim that you "gotta" have a bad guy race. I rarely do, and when I do, I like to use something unusual rather than the standard drow, orcs, goblinoids, yuan-ti, etc. Even the more esoteric of those options is starting to feel old to me now.

 

[GreatLemur]

Goblinoids are regarded as pests. The default starting kingdom has a "kill-on-sight" policy.

Human demonic cultists, particularly those living out in the Wastes, often undertake hideous rituals which physically transform them into monstrous humanoids (like Gnolls). Yuan-ti also fall into this category, though their demonic cultism is so old and entrenched that they're nearly a separate race.

The Valaryan Republic is largely human, but practices slavery and does not respect monarchy, and thus sometimes comes into conflict with the default kingdom.

The Libertine Federation of Free Islands is largely human, but harbors pirates and resists colonization & religious conversion, and thus sometimes comes into conflict with the default kingdom.

The Thurn (albino cave elves with a spider fetish) are virtually unknown on this world, but they seek to enslave the humans who live on various other worlds.

Demons, Devils and Yugoloths are an ever-present threat.

An army of skinless dead has attacked many nations around the Great Sea, striking the coast or far inland, and then moving on. Their goal is unknown. In their wake comes a hideous assortment of extraplanar scavengers.

The political activity of the Dragons has increased, and their minions are growing more active in all nations. This may be a prelude to more direct action.

There are fey who blame the recent ecological disaster on humanity, and will seek to eradicate further threat from this obnoxious upstart race just as soon as they recover.

Strange bipedal beings have constructed a hive-city far to the south. Some appear human on the outside, but when you cut them open, their organs are transparent, or are actually agglomerations of blind worms, or evaporate into smoke when they touch air. They are unreasoning, they possess powerful sorcery, and they twist natural creatures into hideous aberrations. The Kaorti will become more of a threat the longer they are left alone.

The Efreeti are not particularly friendly, and neither are the Vampire Lords of the far East.

Nifft have I mentioned how much I love the sound of your campaign, lately? That is all extremely, extremely interesting.