Evil GM seeking advice running an evil themed Campaign

[furioustjr]

Hey guys. I’m slowly preparing to run an evil campaign, where the characters’ eventually goal is to achieve lichdome. I was wondering if you had any advice as far as running an evil campaign and more specifically if you had any ideas for what kind of quests/rituals should be involved in becoming a lich and how to turn them into adventures.

It seems like lichification is at least a three step process. 1. Crafting the phylactery, 2. Performing some kind of evil ritual, and 3. Making a poisonous potion that will kill and reanimate the character.

I want to avoid party infighting as much as possible and include some of the wackier evil races for player’s to choose from. At least one of the player’s is undergoing ceremorphosis and is slowly becoming a mindflayer (I made it into a class so it should be fairly balanced).

I don’t have much in mind for a storyline so far. I’m thinking the players will probably be seeking the secrets of lichdome for an evil cabal or other organization, but that’s about all I’ve got so far. Oh, and I’m using the pathfinder rules.

[Scowling Dragon]

Evil is usually very difficult to run (In my opinion). Much less reason for the party to stick together, much less reason to follow any plots.

[kardar233]

If you want to keep an evil group together, you have a couple of options.

a) Have them working (willingly or unwillingly) for an organization or being considerably more powerful than they are, who frown on intra-party conflict as being "wasteful". As an example, I once played in a Druchii campaign where the party had been conscripted by the authorities, and were delivered this: "In this time of crisis you have been appropriated as the property of the Witch King. You should know that damaging the property of the Witch King is a treasonable offence..."

b) Much more player reliant: a single player may take a leadership role for himself. This will likely require some soft PvP, but that shouldn't be a problem. This will require different amounts of carrot and stick for each player, but if he can keep them in line this can work quite well. Another example: in a game of mine the party was Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer and me (a charger Warblade). I pulled the group together by showing that I could one-shot the Ranger, threatened the Druid into thinking I could do the same to him, backstabber the Sorcerer when she least expected it and forced her to Geas herself into working for me. It wasn't too tenable of a position, but I managed to retain leadership until PvP broke out between the Ranger and Druid, and then it all went to hell.

[zorenathres]

running an evil campaign also depends on the setting, in a 'standard' D&D setting (whatever that means) it would differ from say a post-apocalyptic campaign, where the theme is usually the shift in individual morals to survive in the harsh environment.

running evil campaigns in established settings works too, there are a lot more cutthroats & scoundrels on the streets than hero types, they all have dealings, betrayals, & "side-work" (self interest & double crossings). with just as many unscrupulous patrons looking for a crew of adventurers with loose morals.

the way i see it, each city has an underworld along with the topside, its up to the players whether they want to be in the white, the grey, or the black parts of town.


Kardar had the right idea, the players could be part of a death cult where the upper levels of initiates eventually achieve lichdom through service to the cult. the party would be sent on errands for the cult until they eventually "earn" their desired reward. of course being an evil party they are just as likely to join & infiltrate the cult just to steal their secrets of lichdom. becoming a lich should be forbidden knowledge & hard to find (thats why i find the dread necromancer class kinda lame in that respect in that they automatically become liches just by gaining a level).

[killianh]

Running evil is easy, the only hard parts are stopping them from killing each other, and having things for them to do.

Try things like they order something from someone, and get double crossed. The guy fled...right into the heart of the pelor dominant capital with paladins at ever corner.

the trick is to create viable reasons for them to go and do things, and more importantly coming up with villainous things for them to do, like killing a cleric, donning the outfit, and then hunting the man down and killing him in front of his family. You have to put your mind in the mind of evil, and figure out what to do from there. Otherwise every adventure they go on will be about them dungeon raiding for money to pay for the ritual. Boring

[Darth Stabber]

Evil campaigns are fairly easy, providing you meet a couple prerequisites.
1) you have to have a pretty mature group. I don't mean older players necessarily, just players that don't use it as an excuse to fill some sort of psychotic wish fulfillment BS.
2) the players have the understanding going in that group cohesion falls on to them. Intraparty drama is okay, but not in excess. This is important in any campaign, but it is usually bigger issue for evil parties.
3) every knows that it is an evil game right off. No body tries to play the white knight. An evil character can work in a good campaign, but a good character has a much,more difficult time fitting into a group of the wicked. That being said there is a certain type of good that can ocassionally fit, though they are the almost neutral, "ends justify the means" type that usually falls under CG.
4) evil parties tend to like a sandbox style. They have few qualms about what they will or won't do, and that attitude combines with the freedom to choose how you persue it. Most games are a reactive style, the GM creates a situation and the players react. With evil party it can be reversed.

[Invader]

Its easy to keep your players from killing each other, you just have to make them all think that the other guy has something they need.

Of course as soon as they don't think they need someone...

[JoshuaZ]

Evil doesn't mean sociopathic. People can be allied with each other out of friendship (yes evil people can be friends), loyalty (evil people can be honorable), pragmatism (betrayal might backfire and isn't worth the risk), decision theoretic and game theoretic considerations(they've studied the Prisoner's Dilemma), and many other reasons. The most recent OOTS summarizes this pretty well (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0854.html). Just because you are evil doesn't mean you go to combat at the drop of a hat. Evil doesn't mean constant temper tantrums.

[Grail]

Evil doesn't mean sociopathic. People can be allied with each other out of friendship (yes evil people can be friends), loyalty (evil people can be honorable), pragmatism (betrayal might backfire and isn't worth the risk), decision theoretic considerations(they've studied the Prisoner's Dilemma), and many other reasons.

In a game of Heroes Unlimited, the characters were battling the BBEG who was trying to take over the world (what else). They were fighting in the midst of a massive city in the CBD. Buildings were getting damaged to the point that finally, one began to collapse right ontop of a young child.

The BBEG stopped fighting the characters to save the child.

He was evil, wanted to dominate the world, but he was honorable - he was happy to use his powers against those on an equal footing, but didn't want the common folk to suffer (anymore than living under his yoke would make them suffer).

It just so happened, that this act allowed the BBEG to get captured, but at the same time made the BBEG more popular amongst the common people than the heroes! :D The Heroes were lambasted in the media whilst the villain was given sympathy and empathy, especially with regard to how he was "mistreated".

So yeah, Evil can be complicated.

As to the game.

Make the characters lieutenants of Orcus (Daemon Prince of the Undead). As they work for a Daemon Prince who has his own level of the Abyss (Thanatos), there are plenty of missions that the characters can undertake to get more favour with their master. This will also keep the characters together, as they don't want to get on Orcus' bad side.


Daemon Princes are always at war (overtly and covertly) with other Daemon Princes and powers of the Abyss.
Daemon Princes being Daemons are involved in the Blood War.
Other factions on Thanatos can be dealt with.
The Dust Men (a planar faction from Sigil) have a strong presence on Thanatos, the characters can help them out against the other factions after the Faction War saw them mostly destroyed.
Eventually, if the characters prove themselves to their Daemonic Master, he may unlock the rituals required.