So I was talking with the group about possibilities of running it, they all are realyl interested... but they want to try it using evil characters as opposed to the good guys.
Is there anything in there that would make this difficult for them (certainly roleplay will be interesting)?
Asd all uninhabited islands, there should be a definite lack of good authority.. leaving evil to flourish... except im not really evil atall. No, sacrificing gnomes to kurtulumak is a good or neutral action, really! ;)
Well maybe one problem, the natives might be less willing to cooperate once you have captured a few and sacrificed them to some demons or placed half a tribe into painracks.. yup, i really need those agony doses for making magic items ..to fight evil.. that makes me good right? :D
Then ofcourse there are other actions, like massive clearcutting and developing the island, importing population and placing the natives in sugar- or cotton- farms. Druids might object to draining the swamplands and clearing out the dinosaurs while setting up a few thousand mining camps along the endless mountains.
But thats all really just inevitable progress, not evil atall. Right?
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Theoretically, any of the APs can work with evil PCs. You have a few options, though.
If you run the STAP as written, the group will probably come into conflict with their patron, Lavinia Vanderboren, who will probably be of good alignment (or possibly neutral). Thankfully, a deranged cult of pirates devoted to Demogorgon could make most evil PCs' skin crawl (unleasing a tide of savagery and madness? Then how will I subjugate them myself?), so hopefully they won't try to throw their lot in with the bad guys (but it might prove tempting). Gaining alliances with some of the major movers and shakers of the Abyss, howver, will hardly be a problem to a gang of muderous cutthroat mercenaries who were (originally) only in this for a paycheck.
If you make some alignment changes, however, it might run more smoothly. Anyone would want revenge for the murder of their parents, even if only for political gain, and when it comes out that Vanthus did it, she'll see even more of a reason to eliminate a familial rival. The rest should just be gravy pie.
Question, though--is your group primarily motivated to playing some evil PCs for the free license to loot, pillage, plunder and burn? Because it sounds like they'll have bigger fish to fry later in the campaign. Also, don't forget that after this AP is over, they'll be some of the most powerful people in the campaign world (and most certainly the local region). They might be better than all the world's populations being turned into monsters, but probably not by much. I shudder to think what the epic-level evil wizard might dream up in Scuttlecove (or what he might do to all those little island villages around the Isle of Dread)...
Just my thoughts.
So I was talking with the group about possibilities of running it, they all are realyl interested... but they want to try it using evil characters as opposed to the good guys.
Is there anything in there that would make this difficult for them (certainly roleplay will be interesting)?
Festivus, you will need to do a lot of work to figure out motivations from evil PCs in Tides of Dread since the main focus is aiding the colonists and defending the colony. The other adventures up to that point aren't so clear cut as good-motivated so you could pull it off fairly easily. I would really, really like to hear how the end of ToD turns out for evil groups since there is definitely a lot of elbow room for PCs to basically do their own thing before the big pirate attack. It makes a big difference in how things turn out at the end and I highly anticipate a good number of parties doing this.
I ran a group of evil PCs a couple years ago and I would suggest this: evil PCs like creature comforts as well as good PCs. The island colony provides such an environment for PCs a long way from home in an otherwise inhospitible environment. Whether motivated by greed, a desire to usurp authority, or just defending what they consider their own turf, evil PCs should be as playable there as good or neutral PCs. You should be able to get a lot of mileage out of those motivations from that point in the campaign on.
A huge gang of pirates arriving, bu ship perhaps?
I pity them, they have no ideas what kobold minds can create...
1. Seamines, atleast half the ships sunk with that.
2. Dragon turtle hit n run
3. Coral golems dealing with landing squads, 32HD.. at a mere 40K a shot when gathering the corals yourself & being a effective crafter.
4. Landmines & other traps at the shore.. even if only the highest leaders should survive that far
5. Dino cavalry with neanderthal mercs
6. Befriended dragons as air support for the armored cavalry
Poor pirates, never knew what hit `em.
This from a crew of 5-6th levelers who wanted to try to, and did, slay the tarrasque (dug a series of pits & filled with water -> drowned). Admittedly knowing the stats for said monster, but still!
Preparing the battlefeld is 90% of the victory.. another 5% for following thru the perfect plan..
Creative Director
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Actually, I think we're going to try to put in sidebars for all the adventures to provide advice to groups who want to run evil characters throguh Savage Tide. There's certainly a sidebar that covers some of this in the first adventure (I think, at least... Gen Con made my memories hazy as to if it made the cut). We'll see how it turns out in the end.
So I was talking with the group about possibilities of running it, they all are realyl interested... but they want to try it using evil characters as opposed to the good guys.
Is there anything in there that would make this difficult for them (certainly roleplay will be interesting)?
Festivus, you will need to do a lot of work to figure out motivations from evil PCs in Tides of Dread since the main focus is aiding the colonists and defending the colony. The other adventures up to that point aren't so clear cut as good-motivated so you could pull it off fairly easily. I would really, really like to hear how the end of ToD turns out for evil groups since there is definitely a lot of elbow room for PCs to basically do their own thing before the big pirate attack. It makes a big difference in how things turn out at the end and I highly anticipate a good number of parties doing this.
I ran a group of evil PCs a couple years ago and I would suggest this: evil PCs like creature comforts as well as good PCs. The island colony provides such an environment for PCs a long way from home in an otherwise inhospitible environment. Whether motivated by greed, a desire to usurp authority, or just defending what they consider their own turf, evil PCs should be as playable there as good or neutral PCs. You should be able to get a lot of mileage out of those motivations from that point in the campaign on.
In our discussions, ideas they came up with was saving whatever needed saving as per a good guy path but then extorting money from those that it would otherwise have done harm to. Seems like a rather pirate code sort of thing to me, and fits in with a chaotic evil type.
I look forward to the first issue of this, and since we wont be kicking off for a while will give me sufficient time to ensure there is plenty of things for them to get into trouble with as evil guys.