A couple Role-playing Questions.

[Sabeta]

Hello Playground. I normally post on the 5e boards, but I felt like my question is a little more general that, so I'm asking here. The shortish story shorter, my character died recently. Next week I'll be bringing a new character, but I'm stepping well outside of my comfort zone this time. The goal is to become a better roleplayed, among other things.

I'll start somewhat simply. I'm on a Trails in the Sky kick right now, and I'm strangely in love with the Bracer's Notebook. The Bracers are essentially an Adventurer's Guild, but with laws and such that they must follow.

Basically, I love the idea of keeping an in-universe record of my journey, but the notebook is so much more than just that. Borrowing from Bravely Second, the Bestiary is a fun addition where your players write about the monsters as you defeat them, and once you've fought them enough the Main Character will pen an encyclopedic entry to finalize the report.

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The images above are what I'm talking about. I rambled a bit long, but my basic question here is how would you go about creating and maintaining such a thing. I have a few ideas myself, but I'd like to see more brainstorming ideas to see if I could do it better.

Now for the meaty question. This will be the first Evil player that I play. I have no intention of of harming the party (rather, my character joins the party because they're lawful stupid and thus can be manipulated towards her own ends). She's a Lawful Evil Bard who is researching the power of words, and loved the command words give her over people.

So essentially, I'm playing a Bookish and Manipulative Bard, and while I won't hurt the party I want to have an idea of how I can actively be evil without making my party turn on me. I would also enjoy getting my enemies to fight each other if possible.

If it helps, we're playing Princes of the Apocalypse. Thank you for listening to me ramble, I look forward to your responses.

[KillianHawkeye]

my basic question here is how would you go about creating and maintaining such a thing.

What I would do is get a pair of notebooks (or go digital if that's your preference). In one book, keep a running log of short notes while you play that records stuff like what kind of monsters you fight, plot developments, other interesting events, places you go, and the passage of time. Then in your spare time between sessions, make the actual journal entries in your second book based on the notes you took.


As for being Evil without upsetting your party, it kinda depends on the people you're playing with.

[Quertus]

My signature character, for whom this account is named, sketches everything "interesting" that he encounters. He makes notes, and, when he can, he lables his drawings, like "BAY-lore", the exploding, vorpal-blade-wielding demon.

And, because I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, this lives entirely in game, with no real-world parallel artifact.

Quertus also captures specimens to experiment on, having simulacrum throw spells to test saves / magic resistance, beat with sticks to test AC / HP, etc. Really, it just amounts to, if I accidentally metagame rough knowledge of monster stats, well, Quertus probably has that knowledge.

I have, however, kept notebooks of the various facts that my characters have learned - especially if I know OOC that those "facts" are false.

So, personally, I would choose between keeping it in headspace, scrawling it down in a notebook, or writing a program to track all the details I care about.

...

As to the character, traditionally, I find that my evil characters are much more party-friendly than my good characters. Can you tell me what "evil" means in 5e? Or, if we're ignoring alignment, and just saying that you want to play a manipulative bard who turns their enemies against each other... then your journal should focus on things like diets, tribal markings, clothing styles, etc - things you can use to identify different subcultures, and what their "weaknesses" are - where you can apply pressure to get the desired result. Their level of susceptibility to mental influence would also be of particular relevance to your character.

[Joe the Rat]

A few simple tenets for being Functionally Evil
1. You First
2. Values, not Deeds.
3. Pet the Dog

You and what you want is your primary interest. The well being of others, the betterment of society, dealing with world-shaking events should only matter to you as it impacts what you want. If the world burns, there's nobody left to command. You want to stop that from happening. If your meatshield dies, you don't have a meatshield - you should help him.

Being evil isn't about stealing puppies and kicking anything not nailed down. It's about not having a problem with it happening. You may or may not enjoy the suffering of others, but you are fine causing suffering, or letting others suffer, if it helps you towards your goals, or doesn't help you to do otherwise. The barbarian needs drinking money and goes full murderhobo during an orphanage fundraiser, and you're like "whatevs." If your party complains of injustice, or leaving someone to suffer, you help because otherwise the party won't shut up about it. You don't slaughter the innocent because doing so does nothing to help you. Unless it does (10 gallons of blood, and the demon will give me one of his binding names!). Have purpose to your acts.

If you want a little sympathy from the party, have a redeeming feature. A line you will not cross, or a concern for something (Oooh! Bunnies!) - something that hints at more depth of character, and a little of the Noble Demon vibe. You could even dangle it as a possible key to your redemption... then shut that noise down hard.

Being evil doesn't mean you can't have friends. You may consider them pawns, you may consider them your possessions (jealous much?), you may have made promises (and as a Lawful-minded character, the value of your word can be high - your words have power to even bind yourself!), but you would generally rather have them around (and on your side) than not.

[SethoMarkus]

Alright, so take all of these with a grain of salt- it's just my 2cp on the topic and by no means do I think it is the only or best way to do it.

First, the journal idea. I think that has already been covered nicely above. Keep two or more notebooks in real life; one for notes and referencing tour sessions, and one to represent your character's writings. I also second the suggestion of keeping most of it just In-Character. Give your character a notebook of some sort in game and make note of writing in it on occasion. The notebook in real life is a very nice visual prop, but the in game journal still needs to be mentioned and played up. I think you have a handle on this already from what you've posted, anyway.

Second, I would seriously be slacking if I did not direct you to this resource for the Lawful Evil alignment. It may not be fully applicable based on how your table views alignment, but it is certainly a very, very nice bad guide that can be used at least as a reference and starting point.

Third, some general roleplaying advice. Work out a handful of traits and quirks that your character has. Not things like "evil" or "plays an instrument", but what do they look like? How do they carry themself? How do they talk? Do they have an accent or use any regional slang? What are their likes and dislikes? Favorite person? Secret desire? Goals, both for Life and ones that are smaller, more short-term? You have already described what they do, but figure out who they are.

In any case, best of luck to you! From how it looks, you already seem to have a pretty solid idea and are well on thr right path! Like most things, getting better at roleplaying comes from experience and growing comfortable with it. You already have the right idea of expanding that comfort zone by stepping out of it!