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Wraithborne
Commander
3440 Posts
    
West Virginia
 | | 06/02/2007 4:03 PM |
| Posted By zenthrus on 06/02/2007 10:19 AM Posted By gss_000 on 06/02/2007 8:53 AM
Evil campaigns are somewhat tricky.The problem is not PCs on NPCs, because much of what PCs do in regular campaigns is pretty sketchy. The problem is PC interaction. Why are they working together, what provents them from backstabbing each other constantly, etc? This aspect takes a little more work than your normal campaign. The only thing that consistently motivates evil creatures to work together is the fear of some larger, more powerful evil creature directing traffic. Goblins work for Orcs which work for Hobgoblins which work for Bugbears which work for Ogres which work for evil wizards, etc. Best way to keep a group of villanous PCs working together is to ensure that there is a really nasty BBEG who oversees the PCs work. A BBEG that is so powerful, in fact, that they have no choice but to fear disobeying/failing the BBEG more than anything else. Otherwise, evil campaigns tend to last about 1.5 gaming sessions while the party deconstructs itself from within. Last time our group had an evil campaign that lasted they were directly overseen by Hextor. A cleric of an evil deity might be bargained with/ignored/destroyed. An evil deity itself is a bit harder to negotiate with/ignore/destroy 
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My players are always wanting to play evil characters, most likely because I rarely let them. The last time I did, it was actually going decently well until an untimely Legendary Medusa tpk'ed 'em. Anyway, since it was working, I thought I would post some details....well, I'm bored too and no one else is posting. Go easy on me....this was 2-3 years ago, so some details may be sketchy, ie names...I'm sure all the PCs/NPCs had one then...
The camapign was based in Waterdeep. With the power level of the Lords of Waterdeep(LoW), it can be exceedingly difficult to even figure out who they are, much less formulate and execute a plan to learn their identities, kill them and supplant them with imposters, but that was the ultimate goal of the BBEG. To help throw scrying eyes away from his plot, he launched a sub-plot, forming an entirely self contained group of dupes and flunkies who knew nothing, but everything at the same time. This group was told to recruit as many people as they can into the plot called The Dark Lords of Waterdeep(DLoW).
Enter the PCs, who overheard a conversation and approached the guy outside. The guy was a complete moron, which suited his purpose completely. Word of the plot getting to the LoW and it seeming to be massively widespread was crucial to the actual plans success. He tells the PCs where to go to get in, where they meet one of the "mid-level leaders," a Bugbear who gave them a test, some menial, but illegal job to arbitrarily test them. The Bugbear was the only link to the real plotters and all he knew was that if by some miracle he managed to come across someone actually competent, he was to set up a meeting with higher ups that he never saw.
Eventually, the PC's got to meet the higher ups and as opposed to railroading, the Baddies gave them information and some general ideas and left them to their own devices. Of course these were tests of their resourcefulness.
Ultimately, they proved themselves and got to meet the high ups....sort of. They met a mind flayer, who had clearly been broken and was totally subservient to "the Master". Eventually, they made a poor decision on their own to try and assassinate Mirt and botched it badly, resulting in their having to leave town quickly. This caused them to meet "The Master" to instill the proper fear of another failure into them. The Mind Flayer opened a portal through which came a 15' Beholder with 20 eyestalks. He sent them on a punishment mission while they were out of town to get some crucial magic item from a Legendary Medusa with them never figuring out that the Mind Flayer was the true BBEG and the Beholder was a fear instilling illusion.
I played the Medusa as what it was, a tactical genius fighting on it's own territory and despite the encounter being pretty balanced, a TPK was the end result, which illustrates another problem with evil characters. The benefactors they may have are only beneficial as long as the PCs remain useful. | |
Hey Woman, Hey Woman!! Listen here. Since your ol' man ain't got no heart, maybe you'd like to see a real man. I bet you stay up late every night dreamin' you had a real man, don't ya'? I tell you what, bring your pretty little self over to my apartment tonight and I'll show you a real man!
Ghouls: 1 Player Characters: 0 | |
| Master of the
Awesome Sauce
Teflon Jeff
Warlord
6567 Posts
Idaho. Yes, we have Gamers in Idaho.
| | 06/03/2007 9:30 AM |
| Well, I just started with a group yesterday, and we have some definite evil overtones.  9 players, 4 evil, 5 neutral, all of which lean closerto evil than good. It was certainly interesting trying to get the party to work together. For the most part, I've made us get along through sheer intimidation and bribery (Yes, you can do this if you come with us. No, we won't stop you.) The DM had three NPC's along with us initially, and I had a nice group bonding expeience in slaughtering them in their sleep. They seemed fishy anyway, so it wasn't a long shot to convince everyone else they were spies. I have concerns over one player, which is an elf with extreme hatred of Humans (favored enemy) and we have 3 humans. He also attempted to drug the catfolk just to shave him bald. I may have to bring him in line or take him out. In party fighting has already started a bit, but I manage to keep ti minimal and non lethal. I guess you just need a dominant peronality to take charge, just like CE. | |
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gss_000
Commander
3204 Posts
Baltimore, MD
| | 06/03/2007 12:39 PM |
| Personally, good/neutral parties do so many sketchy things already, evil parties to me would have to go over the top often when they have no moral boundary. Just me, though, because I like my D&D heroic. | |
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| Master of the
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Teflon Jeff
Warlord
6567 Posts
Idaho. Yes, we have Gamers in Idaho.
| | 06/04/2007 7:53 AM |
| We have a necrophiliac in the party. Is that enough of an evil moral for you?
Edit: the character, not the player. That could have been wierd.
| |
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Against The Giants Called Shot: Huge Green Dragon
Icons Called Shot: Gargantuan Prismatic Dragon
"Rejoice, for bad things are about to happen." | |
|
nyjastul69
Commander
2710 Posts
Rhode Island
| | 06/04/2007 7:55 AM |
| Posted By Teflon Jeff on 06/04/2007 7:53 AM
We have a necrophiliac in the party. Is that enough of an evil moral for you?
Edit: the character, not the player. That could have been wierd.
Either way, it sounds odd to me.  | |
You know, I keep thinking that after the new design team gets done with D&D 4e, D&D won't stand for Dungeons and Dragons anymore, because well, that's just not fun. It's old and stuffy. - Originally Posted by BabWryter on Kenzerco.com | |
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zenthrus
Commander
4680 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 06/04/2007 9:52 AM |
| Posted By nyjastul69 on 06/04/2007 7:55 AM Posted By Teflon Jeff on 06/04/2007 7:53 AM
We have a necrophiliac in the party. Is that enough of an evil moral for you?
Edit: the character, not the player. That could have been wierd.
Either way, it sounds odd to me. Â
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gss_000
Commander
3204 Posts
Baltimore, MD
| | 06/04/2007 9:59 AM |
| Posted By Teflon Jeff on 06/04/2007 7:53 AM
We have a necrophiliac in the party. Is that enough of an evil moral for you?
Edit: the character, not the player. That could have been wierd.
Remember how I said "Over the top"?
Sounds like you'll have an interesting group no matter what.
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Completed trades: blackthorne, Drakkengi,Thorgrin, Ironfist Boulderbender x2, ckissee, nasamonkey, Username, Star, Ace13 x3, emontedodger x2, Drconveyor, church, Joeyb, Sir Bozak The Damned, Xeromod, the other guy x2, Qucalion of Celene, Dagaron x2, berus316, qillan_dvra, AshloreDarkShadow
For further info go to My Reference Thread and Trade Interface
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| Master of the
Awesome Sauce
Teflon Jeff
Warlord
6567 Posts
Idaho. Yes, we have Gamers in Idaho.
| | 06/05/2007 8:33 AM |
| Yeah, we have an Elf that hates humans... and 3 humans. It's going to be , shall we say, "interesting"
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Official Delegate, Wizards of the Coast
Against The Giants Called Shot: Huge Green Dragon
Icons Called Shot: Gargantuan Prismatic Dragon
"Rejoice, for bad things are about to happen." | |
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Wolfgang
Underboss
2463 Posts
Milton, Ontario Canada
| | 06/10/2007 2:55 PM |
| Yeah, we have an Elf that hates humans... and 3 humans. It's going to be , shall we say, "interesting"
if he plays it like an undercover agent working to kill them one by one without anyone knowing then it could work | |
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ShivanWurm
Sergeant
500 Posts
| | 06/10/2007 6:18 PM |
| | I am starting to play paper D&D for the first time and with a heavly evil party. Two people have ended up with 7 or 8 charicters between them alone due to evil hyjinxs. I myself ended up being killed by my nephew today in a dragon encounter in which the dragon gave me a choice to switch sides. | |
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| Master of the
Awesome Sauce
Teflon Jeff
Warlord
6567 Posts
Idaho. Yes, we have Gamers in Idaho.
| | 06/11/2007 9:08 AM |
| Posted By Wolfgang on 06/10/2007 2:55 PM Yeah, we have an Elf that hates humans... and 3 humans. It's going to be , shall we say, "interesting" if he plays it like an undercover agent working to kill them one by one without anyone knowing then it could work
No, as we were doing the pecking order, I declared myself leader, and dared anyone to defy me. One NPC corpse later, I named the Human my second in command. The elf threw a fit, saying if I fell in battle, he would not follow a Human.
I casually pointed out to him that if I fell in battle, he would already be dead.
Fun!
| |
Official Delegate, Wizards of the Coast
Against The Giants Called Shot: Huge Green Dragon
Icons Called Shot: Gargantuan Prismatic Dragon
"Rejoice, for bad things are about to happen." | |
|
gss_000
Commander
3204 Posts
Baltimore, MD
| | 06/11/2007 12:56 PM |
| Posted By ShivanWurm on 06/10/2007 6:18 PM
I am starting to play paper D&D for the first time and with a heavly evil party. Two people have ended up with 7 or 8 charicters between them alone due to evil hyjinxs. I myself ended up being killed by my nephew today in a dragon encounter in which the dragon gave me a choice to switch sides.
Wow. That's a really rough way to start playing so I hope you are liking the experience.Â
| |
Completed trades: blackthorne, Drakkengi,Thorgrin, Ironfist Boulderbender x2, ckissee, nasamonkey, Username, Star, Ace13 x3, emontedodger x2, Drconveyor, church, Joeyb, Sir Bozak The Damned, Xeromod, the other guy x2, Qucalion of Celene, Dagaron x2, berus316, qillan_dvra, AshloreDarkShadow
For further info go to My Reference Thread and Trade Interface
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ShivanWurm
Sergeant
500 Posts
| | 06/11/2007 6:15 PM |
| Posted By gss_000 on 06/11/2007 12:56 PM Posted By ShivanWurm on 06/10/2007 6:18 PM
I am starting to play paper D&D for the first time and with a heavly evil party. Two people have ended up with 7 or 8 charicters between them alone due to evil hyjinxs. I myself ended up being killed by my nephew today in a dragon encounter in which the dragon gave me a choice to switch sides. Wow. That's a really rough way to start playing so I hope you are liking the experience. 
 Oh it's the most entertaining thing EVER.Â
The best ones are when one person tied a buch of potions of alchemest's fire on a net then forgot about it untill he fell down a pit and had them all explode at once, and then there was the ill advised tackle atempt that had them bouce off into a hole with a Blue Dragon. And the time they tried to kidnap a noble that went wrong, and that story about when they tried to sacrifice party members to apease a Black dragon they shot at, and the cursed well and then there was...... | |
Trades--------Old style wants list
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are CRUNCHY and good with ketchup.
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