Dm Tip: Playing The Villain/ Guidelines For Evil Campaigns

Dm Tip: Playing the Villain/ Guidelines for “Evil” Campaigns

I’ve never liked the idea of running an evil game, despite how often I’ve had people in my inbox asking how I’d go about it. I’m all about that zero-to-hero heroic fantasy not only because I’m a goodie twoshoes IRL but because the narrative-gameplay premise that d&d is built around falls apart if the party is a bunch of killhappy murder hobos. Not only would I get bored narrating such a game and indulging the sort of players who demands the freedom to kill and torture at will (I’ve had those before and they don’t get invited back to my table), but the whole conceit of a party falls through when the obviously villainous player characters face their first real decision point and attempt to kill eachother because cooperation is a thing that goodguys do.

Then I realized I was going about it all wrong.

The problem was I had started out playing d&d with assholes, those “murder and torture” clowns who wanted to play grand-theft-auto in the worlds I’d created and ignore the story in favour of seeing how much unchallenged chaos they could create. They set my expectations for what an evil campaign was, and I spent the rest of my time developing as a dungeonmaster thinking “ I Don’t want any part of that”

But what would an evil campaign look like for my playgroup of emotionally healthy friends who understand character nuance? What would I need to change about the fundamental conceit of d&d adventures to refocus the game on the badguys while still following a similar enough narrative-gameplay premise to a hero game? How do we make that sort of game relatable? What sort of power/play fantasy can we indulge in without going off the deepend?

TLDR: In an evil campaign your players aren’t playing the villains, they’re the MINIONS, they’re mooks, henchmen, goons, lackeys. They’re the disposable underlings of uncaring overseers who have nothing but ill intent towards them and the world at large.

Where as in a hero game the party is given the freedom to challenge and overthrow corrupt systems, in an evil game the party is suck as part of that corrupt system, forced to bend and compromise and sacrifice in order to survive. The fantasy is one of escaping that corrupt system, of biding your time just long enough to find an opening, find the right leverage, then tossing a molitov behind you on the way out.

Fundamentally it’s the fantasy of escaping a shitty job by bringing the whole company down and punching your asshole boss in the face for good measure.

Below the cut I’m going to get into more nuance about how to build these kinds of narratives, also feel free to check out my evil party tag for campaigns and adventures that fit with the theme.

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thecreepfromsixfeetdeep

Thrash's party befriended a small kenku child (who they saved from a nightmare monster). She might think he's some kind of giant talking dog, but chasing sticks is better picking bits of dead squirrel out of your teeth. Sketch by @werelocke.

Some sketches of Thrash, done by @werelocke last year! I think they convey his personality pretty well: as a human he had a rich father, and was both conventionally attractive and a huge bully. Since getting cursed, he's gotten cut off from the family fortune and trapped on another plane. And old signature rakish grin doesn't hit quite the same with his new set of fangs... He's still a jerk, and insults people a lot because he's very insecure about his new form and how people perceive him. But he's also been forced to band together with others in order to survive, and become very loyal to the party (although he would hate to admit it). Their relationship is kinda like bickering siblings. I'll share the rest of these at some point, I enjoy posting about this guy! I'd be happy to answer any questions people may have as well, or hear about your own characters :)

Thrash as the human he used to be, sketched by the wonderful @plebies! As a human his name was Emmett, but he chose a fake name after being turned into a monster in an attempt to save his reputation. What would his friends say? What if his father found out!? He'd be ruined! The fact that this was such a high priority should tell you something about the kinda guy he used to be. The amulet around his neck said 'We without as you are within', so naturally he assumed someone was trying to frame him and ruin his good name!

But if he pretended to be someone else... it would avoid any embarrassment while he figured out how to get this pesky curse removed. He's still working on that part.

However, he was never that creative, so when the owner of the tavern asked his name all he could think of was the main character of a pulpy adventure novel 'Thrash the Barbarian!'. Sometimes he regrets his choice (it doesn't exactly help with people assuming he's some kind of wild beast), but he's pretty much stuck with it now!