Dear James,
Would it be feasible to play the STAP with evil PCs? Won't be there a conflict of motivation later on in the campaign?
"There is no Honor" could be handled so that the PCs are all mercenaries who help Lavinia for the money amd I guess this goes on for a while with the next few adventures. But can this be upkept throughout the whole campaign?
Please give me some advice on this one! My players are aching to play evil and neutral PCs.
Thanks a lot!
I'm not James so I hope you don't mind me taking a wack at your question. First off since the ultimate black hat is Demogorgon your players could be any alignment they want. Good guys/gals will fight him because he's an anthropomophic manifestation of ultimate evil and that's never a good thing. Neutral folks will fight him for much the same reasons or the more philosophical "He's disrupting the balance of nature/power" argument. Evil folks will fight him as well for a number of reasons. Wealth is one imagine how Lavinia's treasury pales in comparison to the Prince of Demons'. If the evil PC in question is Lawful or Neutral they may not appreciate the chaotic savagery of the Savage Tide wrecking their nice orderly status quo. Chaotic evil folk might revere one of the Prince of Demon's many contenders (Orcus for instance), or perhaps they want to become contenders themselves. One of the reasons the Abyss rarely ever gains ground in their war with the Lawful Evil denizens of Hell is that they are usually too busy stabbing themselves in the back. Finally if you have someone playing a Montebank (Dragon Compendium Vol 1, a PC class who sells their soul to an infernal power) you could have them be reluctant puppets of Demogorgon who eventually have to best him to win back their souls.
Anyhow that's a few of the ones I came up with. I'm sure James and others will have more,
GGG
One of my players was considering a CN cleric of Gruumsh (CE god of orcs). It seems to me that Gruumsh would probably like the idea of the Savage Tide, since it probably do much more to help his orcs than to hurt them. The character may have had other opinions, of course, which would have set up a great decision towards the end of the campaign.
(Turns out that he's playing a dwarf fighter/rogue, so it won't come up in my campaign.)
I agree with GGG here. I believe it all comes down to the question of just how evil is evil? Lawful evil, selfish types or chaotic, psychopaths? DMing a party with evil PCs may challenge the storyline, and perhaps alter it beyond recognition, but that is where you come into your domain as DM.
I would suggest that you work very closely with your players to develop their characters and their motivations so that they can work together as a unit. If the neutrals and evils can justify their reason for assembling as a party and make clear their goals, then it will be easier for you to run each adventure, knowing which carrot to dangle.
Don't be afraid to make it hard for the party to act out evilly. A businessman can be lawful evil and get by easily. A group of adventurers acting on chaotic evil tendancies might have a much harder time avoiding confrontations with the local constabulatory.
very nice! thanks a lot!
an other question if i might: why would the PC be motivated to dive deep into the Lotus Dragon's lair if they can just get to know (lets say thru a lotus thief) that Vanthus is not there. ofcourse the evil PCs might just want to get revenge for the attacks on them, but still the goal of Lavinia is to find her brother. if the PCs know he is not in there then there is just no point to go in... what do you think? i need firm motivation even for my evil PCs :) thanks again for your assistance!
i need firm motivation even for my evil PCs :) thanks again for your assistance!
It's not just revenge. You should play the Lotus Thieves as a constant thorn in their side until they finally confront their guild. If the PCs are evil you should encourage them to betray Lavinia and join the Thieves Guild.
Although I wanted to run this as an evil campaign, my players preferred to continue the goody too shoes route. I was hoping they would kill Lavinia in the Vanderboren vault, steal her gold and then have a changeling in the party disguise themselves as her. Off little Miss Whistlegap and take over the estate permanently. Have Vanthus send an invite to his sister to meet him at Parrot Island. You could have one of the PCs initiated into the thieves guild. There are plenty of opportunities to use the NPCs and locations for events an evil party would enjoy.