I am contemplating running an evil game - to let people be necromancers, assassins etc.
I am playing in SC and running RotRL so they are out, I prefer the pathfinder AP over the Dungeon AP's (as I dont like really high level stuff)but am not that fussy.
does anyone have any suggestions or experiences?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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I would probably think Second Darkness.
It has interactions with Evil Races that the PCs could benefit from.
Allevrah is still the antagonist though, as although the PCs are Evil they don't want the Second Darkness to come to pass and (possibly) end the world.
Maybe Legacy of Fire in the later stages, but not so much the earlier ones.
STAP could also work for the same reasons as Second Darkness.
I am contemplating running an evil game - to let people be necromancers, assassins etc.
I am playing in SC and running RotRL so they are out, I prefer the pathfinder AP over the Dungeon AP's (as I dont like really high level stuff)but am not that fussy.
does anyone have any suggestions or experiences?
I could possibly see Crimson Throne working with an evil party, but it would take a LOT of rewriting to get around some of the AP presumptions.
I'm a player in Second Darkness, and I can see from what we've done so far, an evil party working. But you'll have to get more advice from someone DMing that one.
I do not really see Legacy of Fire working with an evil party ... that one would take even more reworking than Crimson Throne.
I think CotCT would be a good match, actually, if you change a few assumptions. Put the characters in the position of working for the queen (indirectly to begin with) in exchange for the old money and power thing. This means the motivations behind various missions are altered, though it's reasonable to assume they wouldn't be brought in on the truth behind the plague.
At some point however, they're going to learn too much, despite their loyal service. At this point, likely at the end of Escape From Old Korvosa, things revert largely to the adventures as written, these being more concerned with how to overthrow the queen than the why of it.
Since I know there's a lot of groups still playing CotCT, as well as others, you might want to spoiler your answers!
I'd suggest CoTCT, still setting the characters up as opponents to the BBEG, but having them work for another evil organisation trying to get a foothold in Korvosa as chaos and anarchy takes hold. Alternatively with the players as agents/'favored children' of one of the evil, old families trying to orchestrate a coup after the king's death.
I would say RotRL, because it deals with Sin. Nothing snarks the paladin off more than assigning them Wrath and (gasp) Greed. Evil characters ought to lap this stuff up, and take full consequences later, like the haunted house.
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It saddens me that Sins and Harrow were never used in later APs. I've tried adding Harrow to RotRL, which works just great (except for the fact that the player who liked it said they were NOT walking anywhere near mists [Ravenloft])!
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Crimson Throne? It's EASY to get evil PCs into this. Revenge against the slaver. Why are they acting against the queen? Four words: 'direct injury causes revenge'. The necromancer is told to re-swear his apprentice vows for another ten years to the queen's necromancers or face consequences. How are rogues likely to feel about Hellknights walking the streets abusing criminals (including their contacts)?
Second Darkness and later: Still don't have these. My military deployment came at just the wrong time. I've looked at the PDFs, and will probably end up going that route. But it's the work of fitting them into the budget of a college student that causes problems there. Too bad they aren't bundled into AP sets.
But back to the point: Evil PCs can easily be lured into performing 'standard' adventures. The easiest way to do this is to make it PERSONAL for the characters. Witness:
GM: You return to your home to find your house burned down.
Barbarian: After weeks of living in the wild? I'll pitch camp.
GM: Searching through the ashes of the house for a level place to pitch your tent, you find the mangled body of your father and sister.
Barbarian: Never liked them anyway. Where's my dog?
GM: He's been killed and mostly eaten, with his head stuck on a stick facing the fire pit.
Barbarian: Dang, that's too bad. He was a good dog. I guess I'll just buy another one when I get back to town. I toast his memory.
GM: With what?
Barbarian: Huh? All that beer in the basement. Dad was a brewer, remember?
GM: Searching the basement, you find that they destroyed your fathers brewery and drank all the beer.
Barbarian: They drank my beer?
GM: Oh, I'm sure there are a few drops left...
Barbarian: They. Drank. My. BEER! I look for tracks.
The above is an extreme case, but the point is that good roleplayers can find reasons for evil people to do good things in the sake of doing evil. For example, why would evil people overthrow the evil queen in Crimson Throne?
Envy: She dares think herself THAT better than me? That nonsense ends right now.
Lust: The queen shall be at my mercy, performing at my will.
Gluttony: What do you mean all the good food goes to the UPPER nobility? This will never do.
Greed: She's raising the taxes to WHAT level? No, this is MY gold.
Sloth: The queen demands what? And she wants more? No, it's easier to just go on a few short adventures and overthrow her.
Wrath: How DARE some noble attempt to control my life! I'll show them!
Vanity: Why does that slip of a girl get to run MY kingdom?
In general, evil characters do what they want to (or need to, in some cases). Few things are quite so funny in retrospect as a halfling sorcerer sneaking into a haunted mansion, knowing that the villain has a supply of that flayleaf he's become addicted to.