Evil Characters/Game

A year back I ran a short lived Evil D&D game. Where all of the players took characters that were Neutral Evil, Neutral, Lawful Evil, or Lawful Neutral.

Ya know how when you're in a good aligned group and one of you falls down, the others generally give you healing potions or cast spells.

Well, in an evil game, when a character falls down, he or she is likely to die.

I'd never seen so much death and rewriting of characters in my gaming life.

Anyone else have experiences in the evil alignment?

I have run and played in numerous evil campaigns. They can be a lot of fun, refreshing even. Depending on the level of roleplaying and character identification in your group, it can be taxing.

The trick to running an evil campaign is to keep the world darker than the characters that inhabit it. Not only do they have to worry about the good guys, they have to worry about every other evil genius with a plan. Do not set up a world for them to happily walk through raping and torturing every innocent farm boy they meet.

Just as a paladin doesn't have to be 'Lawful Stupid', evil characters do not have to played 'Evil Stupid'. Evil can work together for a common goal. Evil can work together in the interest of their mutual survival. In the real world, evil is not so black and white. People who do evil things are not monsters who have no love for others.

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Originally Posted by Moritz

Anyone else have experiences in the evil alignment?

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Our evil characters have all been greedy, selfish, nasty and without conscience.

But what made the group cohesive is we realized that we could get richer and more powerful if we worked together against common foes while adventuring.

But outside the adventure we worked and plotted against each others' interests. No DM could be a cruel as one player going after another.

I love it when the players go after one another. I don't have to do jack, just sit back with popcorn and watch them go at one another.

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Originally Posted by Moritz

I love it when the players go after one another. I don't have to do jack, just sit back with popcorn and watch them go at one another.

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I played a necromancer in a group with a paladin. It made children cry.

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Originally Posted by bitemytail

I played a necromancer in a group with a paladin. It made children cry.

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How in the world did the Paladin not kill the Necro every time there was a summoning? Or heck, just kill him for being the abomination he was :)

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Originally Posted by Moritz

How in the world did the Paladin not kill the Necro every time there was a summoning? Or heck, just kill him for being the abomination he was :)

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My Necromancer wasn't evil. He knew that but the Pally still hated me with all his might. He almost cried when I was voted group leader (a position I didn't want)

I started as a thief in a party with a paladin. Slowly I darkened as I prestiged into spymaster to get the permanent undetectable alignment. Then into assassin as I killed off all sorts of NPC's and framed the paladin. So sweet!

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Originally Posted by rabkala

I started as a thief in a party with a paladin. Slowly I darkened as I prestiged into spymaster to get the permanent undetectable alignment. Then into assassin as I killed off all sorts of NPC's and framed the paladin. So sweet!

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Oh, that is just so rude! LOL

Had an evil campaign one time.
Fear kept them together, and working together.
I had a Paladin hunting them, constantly.

In actuality, the Paladin, was simply a Fighter that was a ruthless bounty hunter looking for them for the reward. He had won the Full Plate in a battle with a Paladin who had been framed. So he looked the part of a Paladin bent on revenge. Managed to have about 10/11 sessions before they got tired of running and set an ambush. :D

Generally though, I don't do evil campaigns. Though I have been interested in playing an evil character from time to time.

Evil campaigns work as long as the characters have a reason to cooperate. Once they lose that reason, they start planning to kill each other. It works better when you have players who can handle it maturely and don't slit each others throats because they just feel like it.

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Originally Posted by starfalconkd

Evil campaigns work as long as the characters have a reason to cooperate. Once they lose that reason, they start planning to kill each other. It works better when you have players who can handle it maturely and don't slit each others throats because they just feel like it.

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Greed.

They steal more gold as an entity then they could individually.

Yeah, but after they steal the gold as a group, there's often one or all of them that wants it for themselves and cannot see the future goals. Instant gratification.

Evil campaigns are hard to pull off for anyone without a single overwhelming need for them to band together. Though remember nothing is stopping them from being a group of friends, and going adventuring together raiding tombs. They would be less prone to worry about Johnny Law if they are raiding a high paladin's tomb or a Lich's.

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Originally Posted by Moritz

Yeah, but after they steal the gold as a group, there's often one or all of them that wants it for themselves and cannot see the future goals. Instant gratification.

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I posted this elsewhere a long time ago, but it fits here so I'm going to repost it...

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Originally Posted by Ed Zachary

Evil Moment #1: One guy newer to DMing set a campaign where our characters (N & E) were to rescue some royal, and we would get treasure for it. One character asked to see the treasure, and pulled a Contingency/teleport with all of it. I had never seen a look of surprise/shock on the face of a DM as I did that moment. The rest of us still demanded treasure to perform the rescue, but the king had nothing left. Unhappy about being summoned for nothing, we spent the rest of the gaming session trashing and looting the city.

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Originally Posted by Ed Zachary

Evil Moment #2: We were on a time sensitive mission, and the DM tempted us with a dragon's cave. While the dragon chased us, my priest sent an aerial servant to take some treasure from the dragon's lair. We ditched the dragon, and later on some treasure came magically floating to me. Greedy Steve went invisible, and we guessed that he wanted some loot too. After spending the next day without seeing Steve's character, a new character joined our group (run by Steve).

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Originally Posted by Ed Zachary

Evil Moment #3: Steve's character and mine were rivals (we always were), and his wizard/assassin planned to assassinate an ally of my wizard/assassin. I waited hidden in a bar where my ally hid out, and finally spotted invisible Steve. After Steve killed my ally, I magic missiled him before he could teleport out. His spell failed and he had to fight his way out. That led to a huge bounty being placed on his head, and he had to live in hiding. I was a hero. Steve was so pissed at that moment, you could see the smoke.

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Originally Posted by Ed Zachary

Evil Moment #4: Steve and I were also good friends. Our party had fought a battle against many giants. Steve and I killed our giants and escaped to protected ground. Dave, who's fighter had been greedy and cowardly was still fighting the remainders. When he was almost victorious, we started casting cure and protective spells on the giants. Dave's character survived, but he learned a lesson in getting caught not putting the group first.

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