I have another problem for my fellow DnDers. . .I am a DM for and Evil group. Now most people wouldn't see that as a problem, but I have come to some what of a dead end. I find it extremely hard to find reasons for them to want to adventure in my dungeon; I find it very hard to find drive in a chaotic evil character. Now, I know personal gain is an easy way to define this type of character, so what adventure would they seek out on, and further more how can I create a chain within all adventures to make the experience fun and interesting for my players? My players are so evil they are beginning to not listen to the NPC's! For example (keep in mind this is one example of their everyday activities) they asked a shop keeper a question and since he didn't know the answer they killed him, I know that is what an evil character should do in some cases but how do I counter it?!?!?
Hoping you understood all of my babbling please help!? I am in a bit of a fix and I very much want to make every second of my dungeon fun, interesting, and challenging for my players!
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Part of the fun for me and my group in an evil campaign is how to continue being evil and further your own ends without destroying yourselves.
You know how most D&D campaigns are all about heroes with great fame and power seeking out and destroying evil? Well, guess what? If your PCs are evil, then those same heroes are going to be gunning for THEM! An evil game is out of control when the players start killing every shopkeeper and barwench who doesn't answer their questions with "Yes sir, no sir, three bags full, sir." People will notice these things. Word will get out. Swift and merciless justice will come to town with a holy avenger running detect evil and your players will learn a painful lesson in humility.
Evil only thrives if it fits in one of the following categories:
- Below the Radar - Orc bands, goblin tribes, kobold sorcerers, evil druid cults, and the like fall under this category. Yeah, they're evil. They do bad things to good people. But, they do it so far away from the public eye and so minorly that very rarely does anyone notice. When someone DOES notice, they usually send a few low-level adventurer types to deal with it. If those adventurers fail, higher-level ones show up, etc. until the problem is dealt with.
- Ingenious - The real nasty bad guys are the ones who do vile things right in front of everyone but do it in such a way that its hard to implicate them and deal with the problem. The leader of a successful theives' guild, for example, or a powerful necromancer masquerading as a politician. These types are smart and rarely do anything to give people a reason to suspect them.
- Overwhelmingly Powerful - This type of evil is worst when combined with "Ingenious" because not only do most people not know what they're up to, but those that DO know can't hope to do anything about it. Most of the time, the PCs will not fall into this category until later levels. Once they reach this level, the major opposition to your players will be organized armies, celestial beings, and equally-powerful champions of good.
I think the best way to save your game is to start making the repercussions for their actions MATTER. Don't be afraid to kill off a few of them. Even better, get them to kill EACH OTHER off. Maybe put a potent artifact into their hands and watch them decide who gets to use/keep it. Extra kudos if the artifact is actually cursed. Any price for power. That's the "evil" way.
Good luck!
In addition to what Fatespinner said I would like to point out that evil is often jealous of other evil. If they are getting so powerfuo and noticed than other evil people would either try to make them minions or just kill them outright.
In addition to what Fatespinner said I would like to point out that evil is often jealous of other evil. If they are getting so powerfuo and noticed than other evil people would either try to make them minions or just kill them outright.
Yes... and other thing... take something of theirs, something of value... don't know any player that will just shrug that off... they will go to the four corners to "get back what is theirs."
Part of the fun for me and my group in an evil campaign is how to continue being evil and further your own ends without destroying yourselves.
You know how most D&D campaigns are all about heroes with great fame and power seeking out and destroying evil? Well, guess what? If your PCs are evil, then those same heroes are going to be gunning for THEM! An evil game is out of control when the players start killing every shopkeeper and barwench who doesn't answer their questions with "Yes sir, no sir, three bags full, sir." People will notice these things. Word will get out. Swift and merciless justice will come to town with a holy avenger running detect evil and your players will learn a painful lesson in humility.
Evil only thrives if it fits in one of the following categories:[list]
Below the Radar - Orc bands, goblin tribes, kobold sorcerers, evil druid cults, and the like fall under this category. Yeah, they're evil. They do bad things to good people. But, they do it so far away from the public eye and so minorly that very rarely does anyone notice. When someone DOES notice, they usually send a few low-level adventurer types to deal with it. If those adventurers fail, higher-level ones show up, etc. until the problem is dealt with. Ingenious - The real nasty bad guys are the ones who do vile things right in front of everyone but do it in such a way that its hard to implicate them and deal with the problem. The leader of a successful theives' guild, for example, or a powerful necromancer masquerading as a politician. These types are smart and rarely do anything to give people a reason to suspect them. Overwhelmingly Powerful - This type of evil is worst when combined with "Ingenious" because not only do most people not know what they're up to, but those that DO know can't hope to do anything about it. Most of the time, the PCs will not fall into this category until later levels. Once they reach this level, the major opposition to your players will be organized armies,...
To follow up on Ingenious combined with Overwhelmlingly Powerful your evil dictator kings are the best example of someone who is that.
One idea you might try for a reason to have them adventure Come up with several "dungeons". Each getting progressively harder, the prize at the end of each is some kind of magic item. Works best if its a minor artifact. Something that gives them a decent boost. The whole point is that when you have all the minor ones you can combine them into one uber artifact that lets take over the world, become a god or some such thing. The foes they face inside and outside of each dungeon can then be anything both good and bad guys. The good guys of course would be wanting to stop the party to prevent the end of the world type thing. The bad wanting to stop the party because they want it for themselves. To throw a last bit of evilness of your own wait untill they are about to get the last piece or already have it and are about to assemble the uber item to reveal that the uber item will only work for one of them. See if they then turn on each other. If proplerly and throughly evil by this point they should.
And yes as Fatespinner stated never allow the characters just to throw their weight around without eventually being put into check. This applies for whether they are the hereos or the villians. The populace will only take so much abuse before they rise up in and angry mob and have something done about it, either by themselves or hiring of another party to come after the PC's.
I would go with the band of good heroes, paladins, summoned outer planar creatures hunting the pc's down.Its got a really nice twist, battling good instead of evil. Maybe a gold or silver dragon polymorphed in human form at the head of the party.
Let me take a different take on your problem. While all of the above are true, and yes there's a lot of tools in your toolbelt for crushing to goo characters who are evil--what fun is that really? I mean the players are stretching their arms a little and doing really bad things in a setting where they can get away with it. Why not let them have a little fun and not stomp them right away. Assume they're not in a world where everything good is more coolzor than them, and where what they do causes real lasting effect. Personally I think they'll enjoy it more.
So to get to the original question. How do you motivate an evil character...
Challenge his ego.
Threaten his plans.
Tempt him with power. (not so much money--power!)
Let him curbstomp a rival.
Allow him to corrupt the righteous.
Allow him to serve his dark lords and be rewarded.
Allow him to curbstomp his dark lords and take over.
Give him minions.
Give him favors.
I guess the big thing is to find out what they want. Do they serve evil because of a deviant faith? Do they want to take over the world? Are they sadists? Do they feel the need to probe into the hidden truths of matters that others can't for moral reasons? Motivation will likely be easier if it stems from their own wicked desires.
If you want, give a quick blurb about them and the adventure you're trying to bait them into and I'll no doubt be able to be more specific. Hopefully this is a jab in the right direction though.
I think the best way to save your game is to start making the repercussions for their actions MATTER.
I would like to second this statement, and emphisise that this may be the single most important point, in my opinion. There's a difference between being evil and not knowing how to live in a society. Even the most chaotic evil orc probably knows that killing the tribe's... say... weaponsmith just because he doesn't like his attitude isn't going to fly with his buddies. That weaponsmith's probably the only guy that keeps their tribe in weapons outside of raids. The hammer of "You idiot, that guy kept our weapons from falling apart!" is going to come down on him, hard. It should be the same (or moreso) with evil people in civilized society. There are probably plenty of chaotic evil people in any given D&D town who know that randomly killing innkeepers who annoy them is a fast lane to trouble. It may grate on them, they may want to do it, but if they're smart, they'll only do it if they (maybe) can get away with it.
I think the best way to save your game is to start making the repercussions for their actions MATTER.I would like to second this statement, and emphisise that this may be the single most important point, in my opinion. There's a difference between being evil and not knowing how to live in a society. Even the most chaotic evil orc probably knows that killing the tribe's... say... weaponsmith just because he doesn't like his attitude isn't going to fly with his buddies. That weaponsmith's probably the only guy that keeps their tribe in weapons outside of raids. The hammer of "You idiot, that guy kept our weapons from falling apart!" is going to come down on him, hard. It should be the same (or moreso) with evil people in civilized society. There are probably plenty of chaotic evil people in any given D&D town who know that randomly killing innkeepers who annoy them is a fast lane to trouble. It may grate on them, they may want to do it, but if they're smart, they'll only do it if they (maybe) can get away with it.
First, I'm suprised no one has brought up the book designed for this exact situation: The Book of Vile Darkness. It's for mature audiences only, but it does have a section or two about how to run evil games.
Secondly, I will second Drakli's seconding of Fatespinner (who firsted the statement). Evil doesn't just do anything it wants, no repurcissions at all. I ran into this problem all the time in high school when someone would try and run an evil character. Someone would look at him the wrong way, and the guy would get a dagger in his gut. The explanation when asked why? "Because I'm evil!"
Buzz! Wrong answer! This alignment is known as "Chaotic Stupid."
One doesn't get angry at the bartender and just think to oneself, "I'm evil, so of course I should kill this guy." This is NOT evil (well, it is, but it's not realistic at all of a person's actions). That's just being stupid.
Fatespinner's categories above are excellent. The only reason that someone could just outright kill a bartender for not knowing an answer to their question and get away with it is if they are so overwhelmingly powerful, either physically or politically or in some other capacity, that there is no one around to stop them. Normally, such a person would be hounded by the guards, and if they kept this up, both avenging priests and paladins, along with bounty hunters and adventurers (some who may just be evil and greedy), will rain down on their heads.
This isn't saying that one should crush evil. Grimcleaver is right. But an evil campaign is just grating, stupid, a waste of time, and ultimately pointless and shortlived if it isn't handled properly. You must first make sure you have players that aren't just being Chaotic Stupid, and then you can follow the excellent advice listed above.