Everybody knows that one player who always plays a pyro wizard or a lawful evil rogue. I was lucky enough to get a whole party of them. They all want a villain arc, but I have no clue on how to present engaging villain party quests. What kind of adventure should I use for an evil party?
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My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Bahamut cultists are trying to perform a ritual that will bring peace and justice to the world?
I would make sure to have the party all agree, out of character, to not stab each other in the back, or it can go off the rails really quick. Either just decide to and don’t bother talking about it in character, or have them all be members of the same group, or childhood friends who all turned out evil or something.
They want a villain arc, you build a setting, they come up with their goals and you respond by making challenges.
Evil stories are not about conflict happens and the characters need to react, evil stories are about what conflicts the characters are going to do, so that the setting needs to react.
Evil usually gravitates towards power. I would create a campaign setting where they have the options(plot hooks) to work to overthrow whatever government is in place and take control. It can start small like taking control of a farming village and taxing, subjugating, torturing the populous (jk about the torturing town folk). Or they could try to gain power by deceit, or blackmail, kidnapping ect. Starting out I don't know that you have to do that much different then you would any other campaign, its more that the options and avenues that are presented as they progress would most likely be different. Really you are just setting the framework, its up to them to roleplay evil characters/take the evil, or most evil options when they hit a crossroads.
If this campaign hasn’t started yet I would have a really good out of character/session 0 talk about what is ok as an evil character/party and what is off limits(like torturing innocent townsfolk) just so everyone is on the same page.
Everybody knows that one player who always plays a pyro wizard or a lawful evil rogue. I was lucky enough to get a whole party of them. They all want a villain arc, but I have no clue on how to present engaging villain party quests. What kind of adventure should I use for an evil party?
Well, I wouldn't particularly want to DM for an evil party, but you're asking the wrong people. You should ask your players what they want from a villain adventurer or campaign, and then decide whether that's something you're interested in DMing. If it isn't, just tell them no.
They want a villain arc, you build a setting, they come up with their goals and you respond by making challenges.
Evil stories are not about conflict happens and the characters need to react, evil stories are about what conflicts the characters are going to do, so that the setting needs to react.
This.👆 Heroes react to what villains do that interrupt the static state status quo. Villains are the ones who actively seek to interrupt the status quo, usually to achieve a specific goal. Find out what goals the players might want their characters to pursue and simply present them a static state to disrupt. Then, present them plausible heroes who react to whatever the villains do.
An evil party can do all the same things that a heroic party can do, they just typically have different motivations. A heroic party opposes the attempt to summon Tiamat because it's a threat to the Sword Coast, an evil party opposes it because it's competition. Monsters like mind flayers and umber hulks don't care about your alignment, just your nutritional value.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
To run an evil party, you need to let them take the lead in terms of what they want to do, because it's difficult to motivate them to do good deeds/protect, which is what D&D is usually about.
The Bad Guys must be worse than the player characters. The PCs can be evil on a small, selfish level, but the BBEG wants to ruin the world. Perhaps they seek to enslave the population, including the PCs. Perhaps they are corrupting the land itself. Perhaps they seek to open a portal to the abyss. Whatever it is, because it will trash the world, the PCs are still obligated to stop them. And because the bad guys are so bad, you won't have the problems of PCs taking on good NPCs all the time.
The path of villainy leads to a lust for power. Give the PCs the ability to take control of things - towns etc. They should be the least-bad bad choice for the populace, so that they may be a bunch of baddies, but at least they aren't as bad as those other guys. Kinda like voting in an election.
The PCs may ultimately change track. Characters should develop across a campaign; maybe they turn to the light.
Murder Hobos get Murder Hobo'd. If the party are evil because they like to rob stores, kill shopkeepers etc. then the world will come for them, repeatedly. They need to understand they are not gods. Evil characters work well when they pose as good characters, if they're just engines of chaos then they should expect a level 15 paladin and his friends to turn up and smite them. When designing the setting, decide at the start who the powerful, good-aligned NPCs are and let those NPCs react naturally. If they existed before the PCs take any bad actions, then it's justifiable to send them after the PCs. If they have to be invented then it's punishment rather than letting the world evolve naturally. You don't need to design every character sheet right now, but knowing that Lord Goodliness in a city 100 miles from where the adventure begins is a champion or that Archmage Charity protects the library means that there are resources to react with.
The problem with Evil is that it's hard to know if they want to be evil or if they want to be EVIL. There are massive gradations and you should know what your party/ players are interested. I echo most of the above. Evil tends to try to cause trouble rather than react to it, though evil can be static (the long reigning evil king) to which heroes react (rising up and starting a rebellion).
I'd sit down with them with some kind of exercise like "give me 3 things your character wants to accomplish" and then use those to see if there's an overarching story to build on.
Ask the party how evil they want to be. Are they talking about charging high interest loans to the elderly (1) to deliberately killing children and puppies (10). Ask them on a scale from 1 to 10 where do they want to be? If they go 9 to 10, one story I saw a while back was the DM gave the party an undead plague to clean up in a kingdom. They started off killing a child zombie with a yellow flower. Long story short, at the end they found the necromancer, a town mayor who discusses how the plague came about and how they used zombies to run the farms, and he only did it because his grand daughter asked him to keep everyone alive, and she always loved yellow flowers. If they party goes to kill him, tell them no need, he's so weak from the disease he dies automatically.
Ask the party how evil they want to be. Are they talking about charging high interest loans to the elderly (1) to deliberately killing children and puppies (10). Ask them on a scale from 1 to 10 where do they want to be? If they go 9 to 10, one story I saw a while back was the DM gave the party an undead plague to clean up in a kingdom. They started off killing a child zombie with a yellow flower. Long story short, at the end they found the necromancer, a town mayor who discusses how the plague came about and how they used zombies to run the farms, and he only did it because his grand daughter asked him to keep everyone alive, and she always loved yellow flowers. If they party goes to kill him, tell them no need, he's so weak from the disease he dies automatically.
For evil players it's more important to ask them what they want to do because they cant be expected to rescue the princess and slay the dragon.
Session 0 present some options
Mercenary gang
criminal syndicate
soldiers of an evil organisation
a rogue cult
Once you have that you can think of what those groups would do.
A heist to steal a magical artifact
resurrect/ free a great evil
collect slaves for dark experiments
smuggle drugs ect...
Evil campaigns are also great for the hex crawl style where you set up a map and let them explore . Do a few factions that are good, evil or neutral they can choose to help or hinder and you can set up mini heists and things.
Evil parties usually want to do what good-aligned heroes don't, and when doing such evil acts, they usually end up on the wrong side of the law, getting enemies from law enforcement, power groups, NPCs, other adventurers, metalic dragons and other goodly monsters etc... as well as all the other enemies that your usual non-evil party gets!
As mentioned above, I'd get feedback from all players in a session zero. People have different ideas of what playing an evil PC is, and be sure that ground rules on PvP, any off-limits topics like torture & assault, and overall theme of the game.
As for a plot hook; you need something that motivates the group to work together. How about infiltrating the BBEG to thwart their plans? Nobody worth their salt as evil is going to let something else be the oppressor. And the BBEG has their guard up against the forces of good, so what better cover than to have unsavory types handle such a mission. Of course, they will seize any opportunity for power for themselves, but I doubt the forces of a great evil will tolerate murderhobos, and act a little too evil or undermine the party and everyone winds up with their head on a pike.
Maybe if you orriginally had a BBEG either have the party come to work for them while having a group of NPC adventures try to stop them, or have the BBEG turn into the BFGG (Big Friendly Good Guy) that wants to make the world a better place somehow.
Everybody knows that one player who always plays a pyro wizard or a lawful evil rogue. I was lucky enough to get a whole party of them. They all want a villain arc, but I have no clue on how to present engaging villain party quests. What kind of adventure should I use for an evil party?
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Bahamut cultists are trying to perform a ritual that will bring peace and justice to the world?
I would make sure to have the party all agree, out of character, to not stab each other in the back, or it can go off the rails really quick. Either just decide to and don’t bother talking about it in character, or have them all be members of the same group, or childhood friends who all turned out evil or something.
If you dont care about the party being a team, let them build agencies and backstab each other.
If you want them to be a team, offer them what seems enticing (that may be money. or maybe a chance to show their better than the other characters).
But mainly, make sure each evil character has something that appeals to their evil nature. Then appeal to it.
Also, even evil people care about things, and you can use those.
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HERE.Villains are active, Heroes are passive.
They want a villain arc, you build a setting, they come up with their goals and you respond by making challenges.
Evil stories are not about conflict happens and the characters need to react, evil stories are about what conflicts the characters are going to do, so that the setting needs to react.
Evil usually gravitates towards power. I would create a campaign setting where they have the options(plot hooks) to work to overthrow whatever government is in place and take control. It can start small like taking control of a farming village and taxing, subjugating, torturing the populous (jk about the torturing town folk). Or they could try to gain power by deceit, or blackmail, kidnapping ect. Starting out I don't know that you have to do that much different then you would any other campaign, its more that the options and avenues that are presented as they progress would most likely be different. Really you are just setting the framework, its up to them to roleplay evil characters/take the evil, or most evil options when they hit a crossroads.
If this campaign hasn’t started yet I would have a really good out of character/session 0 talk about what is ok as an evil character/party and what is off limits(like torturing innocent townsfolk) just so everyone is on the same page.
Well, I wouldn't particularly want to DM for an evil party, but you're asking the wrong people. You should ask your players what they want from a villain adventurer or campaign, and then decide whether that's something you're interested in DMing. If it isn't, just tell them no.
This.👆 Heroes react to what villains do that interrupt the static state status quo. Villains are the ones who actively seek to interrupt the status quo, usually to achieve a specific goal. Find out what goals the players might want their characters to pursue and simply present them a static state to disrupt. Then, present them plausible heroes who react to whatever the villains do.
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An evil party can do all the same things that a heroic party can do, they just typically have different motivations. A heroic party opposes the attempt to summon Tiamat because it's a threat to the Sword Coast, an evil party opposes it because it's competition. Monsters like mind flayers and umber hulks don't care about your alignment, just your nutritional value.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
To run an evil party, you need to let them take the lead in terms of what they want to do, because it's difficult to motivate them to do good deeds/protect, which is what D&D is usually about.
The Bad Guys must be worse than the player characters. The PCs can be evil on a small, selfish level, but the BBEG wants to ruin the world. Perhaps they seek to enslave the population, including the PCs. Perhaps they are corrupting the land itself. Perhaps they seek to open a portal to the abyss. Whatever it is, because it will trash the world, the PCs are still obligated to stop them. And because the bad guys are so bad, you won't have the problems of PCs taking on good NPCs all the time.
The path of villainy leads to a lust for power. Give the PCs the ability to take control of things - towns etc. They should be the least-bad bad choice for the populace, so that they may be a bunch of baddies, but at least they aren't as bad as those other guys. Kinda like voting in an election.
The PCs may ultimately change track. Characters should develop across a campaign; maybe they turn to the light.
Murder Hobos get Murder Hobo'd. If the party are evil because they like to rob stores, kill shopkeepers etc. then the world will come for them, repeatedly. They need to understand they are not gods. Evil characters work well when they pose as good characters, if they're just engines of chaos then they should expect a level 15 paladin and his friends to turn up and smite them. When designing the setting, decide at the start who the powerful, good-aligned NPCs are and let those NPCs react naturally. If they existed before the PCs take any bad actions, then it's justifiable to send them after the PCs. If they have to be invented then it's punishment rather than letting the world evolve naturally. You don't need to design every character sheet right now, but knowing that Lord Goodliness in a city 100 miles from where the adventure begins is a champion or that Archmage Charity protects the library means that there are resources to react with.
Shadowrun.
The problem with Evil is that it's hard to know if they want to be evil or if they want to be EVIL. There are massive gradations and you should know what your party/ players are interested. I echo most of the above. Evil tends to try to cause trouble rather than react to it, though evil can be static (the long reigning evil king) to which heroes react (rising up and starting a rebellion).
I'd sit down with them with some kind of exercise like "give me 3 things your character wants to accomplish" and then use those to see if there's an overarching story to build on.
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Ask the party how evil they want to be. Are they talking about charging high interest loans to the elderly (1) to deliberately killing children and puppies (10). Ask them on a scale from 1 to 10 where do they want to be? If they go 9 to 10, one story I saw a while back was the DM gave the party an undead plague to clean up in a kingdom. They started off killing a child zombie with a yellow flower. Long story short, at the end they found the necromancer, a town mayor who discusses how the plague came about and how they used zombies to run the farms, and he only did it because his grand daughter asked him to keep everyone alive, and she always loved yellow flowers. If they party goes to kill him, tell them no need, he's so weak from the disease he dies automatically.
Oh... Oh my...
I have a PHD in traps
For evil players it's more important to ask them what they want to do because they cant be expected to rescue the princess and slay the dragon.
Session 0 present some options
Once you have that you can think of what those groups would do.
Evil campaigns are also great for the hex crawl style where you set up a map and let them explore . Do a few factions that are good, evil or neutral they can choose to help or hinder and you can set up mini heists and things.
Evil parties usually want to do what good-aligned heroes don't, and when doing such evil acts, they usually end up on the wrong side of the law, getting enemies from law enforcement, power groups, NPCs, other adventurers, metalic dragons and other goodly monsters etc... as well as all the other enemies that your usual non-evil party gets!
As mentioned above, I'd get feedback from all players in a session zero. People have different ideas of what playing an evil PC is, and be sure that ground rules on PvP, any off-limits topics like torture & assault, and overall theme of the game.
As for a plot hook; you need something that motivates the group to work together. How about infiltrating the BBEG to thwart their plans? Nobody worth their salt as evil is going to let something else be the oppressor. And the BBEG has their guard up against the forces of good, so what better cover than to have unsavory types handle such a mission. Of course, they will seize any opportunity for power for themselves, but I doubt the forces of a great evil will tolerate murderhobos, and act a little too evil or undermine the party and everyone winds up with their head on a pike.
Maybe if you orriginally had a BBEG either have the party come to work for them while having a group of NPC adventures try to stop them, or have the BBEG turn into the BFGG (Big Friendly Good Guy) that wants to make the world a better place somehow.
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